A Birthday Surprise from the Black Organization
by Swagnarok
Summary: Ran's birthday nears, reminding Conan of how long Ran has waited for Shinichi to come home. Gin learns Conan's identity, putting him in a desperate situation. A message from The Boss worsens the situation and Conan is forced to make a choice:Ran's life or Haibara's? Episodes 883-886, first story written in this series.
1. Episode 1 (883)

(Note to reader: as Detective Conan was written by a Japanese person and takes place in Japan, it is assumed that all text within the story is Japanese translated to English for the reader's convenience except for italicized text, which whenever used indicates that what's written is the original, exact, untranslated version. Or, italicized text may be used to indicate a flashback sequence. This choice of italics usage can be useful whenever characters within this fanfic use English words or phrases or whenever the author wishes to use Japanese words in the Latin script, as in the Ending. Underlined text may indicate the title of a book, poem, etcetera but it is also used to indicate that certain text is part of the lyrics of the Opening and Ending songs that are generally associated with Detective Conan and anime in general. Boldened text may used to indicate the episode's title, what day it is, what time of day it is, location, etc. All content may not be suitable for children; reader discretion advised. I obviously do not own the rights to the Detective Conan franchise; this work is called a "fanfic" for a reason. I plan on making this a four-parter series; this is part one. I did my best to write it as though it were a novelized version of a canon four-part episode arc from the anime series. In this case, the Birthday Surprise arc is meant to comprise episodes 883-886 of the anime series; at the time of writing there have been less than 810 episodes of the anime series made, not counting OVAs, movies, and other stuff like that. Enjoy!)

 **THE FIFTH**

An old Porsche. A man in a black suit with long golden hair. A cigarette hanging from the man's mouth, its toxic goodness filling the car in the form of a powdery smoke. Silence, tranquility. The dead of night, a single street light glowing a few yards away.

Gin glanced at his watch. It was 10:25 PM. Ale's flight was scheduled to land in Tokyo in 9:30. Why the delay? Had Ale decided not to come? Did Ale simply forget?

No, he thought. Ale wasn't the kind of person who would be so forgetful. Ale was with the U.S. Special Forces; people who made it as far as he did wouldn't be so absent-minded. That meant there was one remaining possibility…

Suddenly a light emerged from Gin's right. Several cars had passed by in the past hour and each time Gin had looked to see if it was Ale. Then again, he knew that Ale would have to rent a car, so Gin wouldn't recognize him even if it was.

This time the passing car pulled into the abandoned parking lot. Not being the kind of man who didn't always keep an eye out for danger, Gin undid his seatbelt and got out of his car from the left side. He ran while crouched to the back of this person's car, feet away from the door on the right side. He raised his gun, wanting to be sure that this wasn't a trap.

The car's engine shut down. The head and tail lights turned off. Suddenly the lights inside the car came on as the door opened. Two legs emerged first and then the man's whole body. It was Ale.

Gin put his gun back into its holster, cast his cigarette to the ground, crushed it underfoot, and stood upright to greet his brother.

"You're late," Gin said.

"I had to find a place that sold that special kind of gum," Ale said.

Gin nodded. "So how've you been?"

"Better than I was," Ale said. "I've got myself a good-looking American blonde. We're expecting our first kid next spring."

"I can't imagine the clean life suiting you well," Gin said.

"That's why I'm back here," Ale said. "So, why was it again that you need my help?"

"It's that woman," Gin said. "There's something she's not telling me or the higher ups. Something about Sherry."

"Who's Sherry?" Ale asked. "She your latest woman?"

"I wish," Gin said. "I suppose being able to see that look in her eyes when I snuff out her life will have to suffice."

"I don't understand," Ale said.

"A few months ago a woman named Shiho Miyano, the scientist put in charge of the development of that drug, defected from the Organization," Gin said. "Recently she supposedly died."

"But now you suspect she's still alive," Ale said. "In that case, do you know where she's hiding?"

"Not yet," Gin said. "That's why I hired Moonshine to look into it."

"So I take it you're working behind the Organization's back then," Ale said.

"That's why I didn't bring my partner Vodka," Gin confirmed. "I'm scheduled to meet with Moonshine tomorrow at this same place and at this same time. After he tells me what I need to know…"

"So what you need from me then is some extra muscle to help you capture her," Ale said.

"No," Gin said. "What I need from you is to help me kill her."

Gin's lips parted to form a Cheshire grin.

 **OPENING:**

Truth is the convergence of many facts into a beam of light that pierces the shadows!

In today's case the men in black finally show themselves! This presents both a great opportunity and a great danger!

With the body of a child but the brain of an adult, his name is DETECTIVE CONAN!

[ _SILVER BULLET_ by Egoist]

You wipe the blood off your hands, leave the body to the crows

Then you re-enter the crowd, having become a wolf among the lambs

You have made the devil's bargain, yet still you walk among the saints

You let out a sigh and you dare to believe that "nobody will ever know"

A child's cry, a sobbing promise to a dying loved one, words never forgotten

Years pass, his passion undiminished by time wasted and empty leads

He at last finds the golden key that opens the door to the closed case

In the middle of a night like any other, a thousand lights shine upon you!

As long as people continue to devise ways to hurt each other

We will remain faithful and vigilant soldiers in the war on crime

Remembering that oath I swore to protect and serve I draw my gun

In a moment of clarity and brilliance the _SILVER BULLET_ is fired!

 **A Birthday Surprise from the Black Organization: Part One!**

 **THE SIXTH**

The alarm rang. This loud external stimulus was enough to make his mind alert. But something was different today. He could barely move.

Two seconds passed. The alarm rang again. He heard Kogoro yawning and getting out of bed. But Conan couldn't. His head felt bad. He then realized: he had a cold.

The alarm rang again. Kogoro stood up, clad in his Yoko Okino pajamas.

"Hey, brat, get up," Kogoro said from the other side of the room.

Conan then began to stir. His head and body turned slightly.

"I SAID, GET UP!" Kogoro screamed. "Geez, how long are you going to lie there…?"

With that Conan managed to stand up. His feet were immediately greeted to a cold carpet.

You're the one to talk, uncle, Conan thought with a deadpan look on his face.

Kogoro then shuffled out of the room calling to Ran asking something about breakfast. Conan slowly walked to the window and looked out of it. As had been the case for the past two days it was snowing.

In two days Ran turns eighteen, Conan thought. Come to think of it, his own birthday had passed half a year ago back in May. Had it really been nearly a whole year since those men in black shrunk him? A year…

A lot had happened during this past year. He had solved an unbelievably large amount of cases using Kogoro's identity. Kogoro did indeed become famous across Japan, and to a minor extent across the world. But Kogoro had yet to be put on any cases which would lead Conan to the Black Organization. He hadn't really come across any major leads, despite coming into contact with Gin, Vodka, Vermouth, and former Black Organization member Shiho Miyano, now living under the alias Ai Haibara. He had come into contact with several members of the FBI, including Shuichi Akai, whose death Conan helped fake. He had even come across some files and journal entries written by people affiliated with the Black Organization and figured out the phone number of the Boss of the Black Organization. But yet he wasn't really any closer to restoring himself to his adult body or bringing down the Black Organization.

What have I accomplished? he thought to himself. Nearly a year had gone by where Ran had been waiting patiently for Shinichi Kudo to return. How many years was she willing to wait for him? How long before she decided to move on and he lost her forever?

Conan's hands balled into a fist. He clenched them tight, feeling deeply frustrated and, to a degree, afraid.

"Conan-kun?"

Conan turned around. "Good morning Ran-neechan." Then he sneezed.

Ran bent down in the manner that a tall grown-up bends down when addressing a short kid. "Conan-kun, did you catch a cold? You should put a mask on before you go to school. You don't want to make the other kids sick."

"Okay," Conan said in the characteristic childish voice which he used around everyone except for the Detective Boys and those few individuals who knew his true identity. In order to maintain his cover he had to act in a way that people expected a seven year old kid to act. "Ran-neechan, your birthday's in two days, right?"

Ran looked puzzled. "How did you know that?"

"I, uh, heard the professor mention it the other day," Conan said.

"That's right," Ran confirmed. "It will be my birthday in two days."

"So, uh, what's your birthday wish?" Conan asked, feeling awkward about probing her like this.

A sad look then came upon Ran's face. A sad smile. Conan then knew what her birthday wish was. He knew he shouldn't have asked her that. So, he decided a sudden change in the conversion would be wise.

"Uh, never mind," Conan said. "Hey Ran-neechan, there's a lot of snow outside today."

Ran looked out the window. "Yeah, there is a lot of snow."

"Do you think school will be canceled today?" Conan asked, despite the fact that he knew it probably wouldn't be.

"Canceled?" Ran said. "No, I don't think that's very likely. Now let's eat breakfast before it gets cold."

She's being unusually enthusiastic about breakfast, Conan thought. He knew: she was putting up a front. She clearly didn't want Conan seeing her sorrow, heartbreak, and worry over Shinichi's disappearance so she was acting cheerful. Conan had seen from the beginning of his new life as Conan Edogawa the emotional toll his teenage self's disappearance had on Ran. But yet she consistently tried to stay cheerful while around people. That was the kind of person she was, and he hadn't really noticed this trait until he became Conan.

I will permanently return to my normal body soon, Ran, Conan vowed silently. Soon. Whatever it takes.

Conan, Ran, and Kogoro were sitting down at the table. Kogoro was opening a can of beer.

"Isn't it too early for that?" Ran asked.

"It's never too early for beer," Kogoro retorted. "Speaking of which, Ran, you'll be turning eighteen in two days. I think you're old enough to try beer."

Ran was clearly surprised by this announcement. "But isn't 18 below the legal drinking age?"

"I say if you're old enough to be considered an adult then you're old enough to drink," Kogoro said, taking his first sip of the beer can in his hand. "Yeeeaaahh this is good!"

Normally at this point Conan would don a facial expression which would silently ridicule Kogoro's alcohol-induced behavior. But instead his mind was stuck on what Kogoro just said.

Kogoro Mouri had been a fairly heavy drinker through his college years. He quit drinking altogether whenever he married his childhood friend Eri Kisaki and Ran was born. At this time the Mouris were a united and not at all dysfunctional family. Kogoro was a respectable and hard-working cop who worked for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. Shinichi, having been a close friend of Ran's for virtually all of his life and as such having visited her house once or twice when very young, could attest to this fact. One day, however, that all changed whenever Kogoro started drinking again. A combination of this and his relatively poor detective skills caused him to be fired. He then became a private detective but his alcoholism and the resulting poor work ethic, coupled with some bad luck and his financially-harmful habit of betting on horse races, resulted in him experiencing long periods of time without any clients, the most recent such period having begun several months before Conan's appearance and having ended upon Conan's appearance and arrival at the Mouri residence. Eri had left Kogoro around ten or eleven years ago, though due to circumstances Shinichi never understood Kogoro was the parent who ended up taking care of Ran. Kogoro's drinking ruined his life and changed who he was as a person. He became a shell of the man that he once was.

Having become a little too intimately acquainted with Kogoro's nearly constant drunk behavior ever since moving in with the Mouris, Conan had at times wondered what would happen if Ran ended up going down Kogoro's path. What more, he considered the possibility that Kogoro's drinking problem was influenced by a gene which increased his susceptibility to alcoholism. If this were the case, and assuming that Ran inherited this gene, then even a single drink could potentially cause Ran to become a lifelong alcoholic. Conan worried not only that Ran's life would be ruined but also that over the long term it could completely warp her personality, turning her from that kind individual who even Vermouth called "angel" into an entirely different and unrecognizable person. She would no longer be Ran, and he felt that losing her in this manner would be far worse than losing her to another man.

"Conan-kun, what's wrong?" Ran asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Nothing," Conan answered coldly. He then handed his plate to Kogoro, stood up, grabbed his backpack, and walked out the door without saying a word.

Conan waited outside the front door of their apartment. Two minutes later Ran came out.

"Conan-kun, did father say something that upset you?" Ran asked.

"Uh, no," Conan said, forcing a smile. "Listen, uh, I'd like to walk to school alone today."

"But…" Ran began.

"Bye!" Conan said with forced enthusiasm as he ran down the stairs.

 **Scene Transition**

Walking quickly Conan reached Teitan Primary School. Mitsuhiko, Genta, and Ayumi were waiting. "Hi Conan-kun!" Ayumi said, waving at him.

"Hey Conan, do you have a cold?" Genta asked.

"Where's Haibara?" Conan asked, ignoring Genta's question.

"I'm here." Haibara was standing behind Conan.

"There's something I need to talk to you about," Conan said. "Something involving Ran."

Mitsuhiko, Genta, and Ayumi looked at Conan funnily.

"…neechan," Conan finished hastily.

"I see," Haibara said. "We'll discuss it at recess."

 **Scene Transition**

A few hours later, the playground was packed with happy screaming kids who were playing tag, swinging, and going down the slide. All five detective "boys" were sitting at a wooden table.

"What do you mean you lost our science project?!" Mitsuhiko asked Genta.

"I thought the caterpillar looked bored just sitting in that box all day so I decided to let him out on the kitchen counter for a little while," Genta said sheepishly. "But then I remembered Kamen Yaiba was starting so I kind of sort of forgot all about him for 40 minutes. When I came back he was gone! Somebody must've stolen him! Conan! This looks like a…"

"Your caterpillar hasn't been stolen," Conan said, trying hard to stay patient with 7 year old Genta. "He's probably hiding in your mother's potted plant which she keeps on the kitchen windowsill."

Genta gasped. "My mom's going to kill me!"

Genta suddenly ran away from the playground and towards his home.

"Genta, what are you doing?!" Mitsuhiko called, running after Genta.

"Ayumi-chan, could you go somewhere else for about 5 minutes so I can talk to Haibara about something private?" Conan asked.

"Uh, sure," Ayumi said, getting up and walking towards the monkey bars.

I wonder what those two talk about when they're alone, Ayumi thought to herself. It was as though they shared some secret which they couldn't discuss with her, Mitsuhiko, or Genta. Was it that Conan-kun liked Ai-chan? She shook her head. Their relationship didn't seem to be anything like that. The way that they talked in private was similar to something, but she just couldn't seem to wrap her head around it.

Then she knew: the way they talked to each other was like how two grown-ups would tell her to go play somewhere else while they discussed grown-up things.

"You want me to provide you with an antidote prototype for Ran's birthday," Haibara guessed. "You also want me to fill in for you while you're Shinichi."

Conan sighed. "You know me too well. But…it isn't just that. Haibara, Ran has waited almost a full year since the disappearance of Shinichi. I don't know how much longer she's willing to wait."

She suddenly knew what he was thinking by the look he was giving her.

"No," Haibara said.

Conan had brought it up several times in the past, mostly when he was more frustrated than normal over his lack of progress in locating the men in black and restoring himself to his normal aged self. The Black Organization currently believed Sherry to be dead, but they only came to believe this recently and this mistaken belief of theirs could be undone by a single sighting of Shiho Miyano. Conan had asked Haibara several times before to use the APTX antidote on herself and make the Black Organization aware of her continued existence and whereabouts so that Conan could trap them and perhaps find out where a permanent APTX antidote was being held at or the information needed to produce such an antidote. Of course, she always said no. She felt it was selfish of her to say no, but she also felt that it was even more selfish of Conan to ask that of her. When she refused, he would then ask if she'd at least allow him to use the drug and use himself as bait. She'd quickly talk him out of it by reminding him that doing so would put Ran's life in serious danger. She noticed that lately he was raising the question more and more often.

He's headed down a dangerous road, Haibara concluded. As more time went by with few to no leads his fear of Ran giving up on Shinichi was increasing. One method that he used to make this less likely was the periodic use of the antidote on himself to let Ran see him face to face, something which he hoped was buying him more time. However, as was the case with Baijiu, the first antidote that he came across and used, his body was building an immunity to the APTX antidotes every time he used them. Also, during an antidote trial run which lasted only three hours and twenty minutes, Conan had a dream in which continued use of the antidotes resulted in full immunity to APTX antidotes, rendering him completely and permanently unable to revert back to Shinichi for any length of time. Though it was just a dream, a few days later he asked her whether that was a possibility and she confirmed that it was. Conan knew that as more time went by various circumstances would emerge that would require him to use the antidote and as such the more time went by the more likely he was to become ultimately unable to return to his normal aged body. This made Conan even more anxious to return to his normal aged body as soon as possible, which could eventually lead him to take foolish and irresponsible risks which could get them both killed.

"I wasn't going to ask that," Conan said.

"Really? Then what were you going to say?" Haibara asked.

Conan was silent for a good thirty seconds.

"I'm sorry," Conan finally said. "It's been selfish of me to ask you to take that kind of risk. I realize how even a whiff of their scent makes you feel and to ask you to do that is completely out of the question. I won't ask again."

"I'm glad to hear that," Haibara said. "And yes, I will have a twenty four hour antidote ready for you by tonight. You have a cold so all requirements needed for the antidote to work are present. I'll also be ready to fill in for you at Ran's house when you change. I'll call you when it's ready. By the way, it isn't just my fear of them that keeps me from agreeing to do that thing."

Conan looked confused. "It isn't?"

"I see no reason to do it," Haibara said. "After all, I would be putting my life in serious jeopardy by doing that thing and I would experience no return for the risks that I took."

"Idiot," Conan said. "Isn't returning to your normal body something you want?"

"No," Haibara answered, to Conan's shock. She stood and walked to the Jungle Gym without saying another word.

She had contemplated it time and time again and the conclusion she had reached was that there was no reason for her to return to her normal body. She was being hunted by the Black Organization; those men would not stop until Shiho Miyano was dead. Just like they did with her sister. If she permanently returned to her normal-aged body, she probably wouldn't be able to survive for a whole 365 days. Gin would hunt her down and then he'd kill her in one of the most horrible ways possible.

On the other hand, as Ai Haibara she was fairly safe from those men. Safe from Gin. She could envision herself possibly living for decades as Haibara without those men finding her. Being a Japanese female, at birth she had a life expectancy of 75-80 years. APTX 4869, while generally successful in making an individual revert back 10 years biologically, failed to also revert back certain vital internal organs. This meant that while her physiology was that of an 8 year old, those certain organs were still those of an 18 year old, meaning that her lifespan had probably not been increased by APTX 4969 beyond it helping her escape the clutches of those men in black. The math was fairly simple: 75-80 minus 18 was 57-62. That was approximately how many years she probably had left. Adding this number of years to 8, the most probable scenario was that, provided she died of natural causes, Ai Haibara would live to be 65-70 years old. Conan Edogawa, being a Japanese male, would probably live to be 60-65 years old, provided that he died from natural causes. Considering the ugly drawbacks of living into one's 70s and 80s and also that this would give her over 55 more years to live, this outcome was an acceptable one to Haibara.

Therefore she considered it best that she remain Haibara instead of reverting back to Shiho. And, of course, there was that one last thing, that thing which would almost assuredly make her choice worth it. That thing was…

 **Scene Transition**

"I'm invited, right?" Masumi Sera called out from a distance.

"Yes!" Ran confirmed.

It was time for Ran to go home. Alongside her walked Sonoko Suzuki, her best friend and the daughter of the head of the Suzuki Corporation, an immensely wealthy individual.

"…so what do you think?" Sonoko asked.

"Huh?" Ran asked, coming out of a daze. "What were you talking about?"

"Dustin Beaver!" Sonoko said. "The American teen idol! Geez, did you not hear a word I said?"

"I'm sorry," Ran said sheepishly. "Something else has been on my mind all day."

"You're wondering if Shinichi is going to show for your 18th birthday party," Sonoko said.

"Well, there is that," Ran said. "But that's not all…Sonoko, have you ever been drunk before?"

"Huuuuh?!" Sonoko said, blushing.

Realizing that the answer either would be no or "I refuse to answer that", Ran decided to rephrase the question.

"Uh, have you ever drank alcohol before?" Ran asked.

"Did I ever drink?" Sonoko repeated, now thinking back. "Well, there was this one time when I was 13 that my uncle Jirokichi came back from a trip to Italy. He brought back some wine and he let me try a little bit."

"So how did it taste?" Ran asked, strangely anxious to know. "Was it good?"

"Are you kidding me?!" Sonoko said. "It was the most disgusting stuff that I ever put in my mouth! I cannot understand how there are people who enjoy drinking it!"

"They say you come to like it after trying it a few times," Ran said.

Sonoko donned that "what mischief are you up to?" look. "Anyway, about Dustin Beaver, I think my parents can rent him out him for that day if you want."

"No!" Ran said in the manner of a person denying allegations of gross indecency. "Sonoko, I refuse to take advantage of your family's wealth! Not to that extent anyway!"

"It's no big deal," Sonoko said, downplaying the matter of how much money that would cost the Suzukis.

"It just wouldn't feel right," Ran said. "Besides, Shinichi might get jealous."

They both laughed at the idea of that.

"Well, if you change your mind there's still some time left," Sonoko said.

 **Scene Transition**

Ran stepped inside the apartment. There was a man, presumably a client, sitting on the couch talking to Kogoro. Conan was standing nearby listening to them.

"Ah, Ran, come in," Kogoro said with a serious voice. "This is my client, Nobuyuki Miyazaki. He runs the Miyazaki Hotel in Kanagawa. Miyazaki-san, meet my daughter, Ran."

"Uh, hi," Mr. Miyazaki said to Ran, clearly distressed.

Nobuyuki Miyazaki was 45 years old and the oldest son of Daisuke Miyazaki, the founder of the Miyazaki Hotel. He was a chubby clean-shaven man who had a mole on his left cheek and a receding hairline. He had a deep voice.

Conan sneezed.

"Bless you, son," Mr. Miyazaki said.

"So what's the case?" Ran asked.

"Miyazaki-san's daughter was murdered last night," Kogoro said.

"Yes," Mr. Miyazaki said. "The two of them were waiting the Ballroom on the 33rd Floor because later we were going to celebrate Atsuko's birthday in there. After a few seconds the man shot Atsuko in the head and then ran from the room, trapping Megumi with my daughter's fresh corpse in the room with a crowbar.

"Did your wife get a good look at the man's face?" Conan asked in a childlike voice, knowing from experience that Kogoro would respond with a dirty look.

"No," Mr. Miyazaki said. "She said the assailant was wearing a mask."

"Can she give an estimate of the man's height?" Conan asked.

Kogoro laughed a fake laugh and then spoke with fake sweetness, not wanting to lash out at the kid in front of his client. "Okay Conan, that's quite enough. Ran, please take Conan-kun someplace else."

"Were there any other witnesses at the scene who can verify the time?" Conan asked Mr. Miyazaki, continuing to press for information.

"I said ENOUGH, you nosy four-eyed brat!" Kogoro snapped. He lifted Conan up by the back of his shirt and threw him in his room. Then he shut the door.

There's the uncle we all know and love, Conan thought with a deadpan look on his face. He put his ear to the closed door, hoping to hear the rest of the conversation.

"I'm sorry for the interruption," Kogoro said. "Anyways, you want me to go to the Miyazaki Hotel and investigate, right?"

"Yes," Mr. Miyazaki said. "If you solve the case I'll give you and your family coupons for a free two-day stay at the Miyazaki Hotel. The business isn't doing very well right now so that's about all I can offer you."

"Then it's settled," Kogoro said. "I'll leave right away."

Conan opened the door. "Uncle, can I come too?"

Kogoro bent over to stare Conan down menacingly. "No way! This is adult business!"

"But uncle, haven't you said that I'm good luck when you bring me along on cases?" Conan said.

Kogoro put his fingers to his chin as though to think deeply about what Conan just said. "I guess that's true. Ran, I need you to come along to keep an eye on the brat. I don't need him meddling with a crime scene investigation."

"Yes," Ran said.

 **Scene Transition**

The four of them stepped outside. Standing there was Haibara.

"Wherever you're going I'd like to come with you if that's okay," Haibara said.

"Eh?" Kogoro grunted. "Wait, I know I've seen you before. Aren't you…?"

"Father, this is Ai Haibara," Ran said. "She's one of Conan's friends."

"Where are you going?" Haibara asked.

"To Kanagawa," Conan said.

"I've got enough yen for train fare if you're concerned about that," Haibara said to Kogoro.

Conan knew that Haibara wouldn't be asking this unless she had a fairly good reason. "Please, uncle Kogoro? If I have a friend with me I won't be so bored while you're investigating."

Kogoro sighed miserably. He knew that at least for the duration of this trip he'd have another freeloader on his hands.

 **Scene Transition**

Kogoro, Ran, Mr. Miyazaki, Conan, and Haibara took their seat on the train.

Kogoro scowled and looked at Ran. "Make that two brats for you to keep an eye on."

"I don't think I'll have to worry about her much," Ran said. "She's really mature for her age. It's kind of eerie, actually."

"I'm going to the bathroom," Conan said. He eyed Haibara as to indicate "let's go".

The two of them got out of their seats and walked away.

"Why did you come?" Conan asked after the two of them were a good distance away and out of earshot.

"It's those men in black," Haibara said. "Gin, more specifically."

"What about Gin?" Conan asked, suddenly dead serious.

"I was walking home from school," Haibara said. "Then I got a text from the professor asking me to pick up some roses which he had ordered."

"Roses?" Conan probed.

"They're probably intended for Fusae Campbell," Haibara said. "I suspect that recently the professor's been dating her behind my back."

"Really?" Conan said. "I never really saw the professor as being the kind of person who'd have a love life. He's been living in that house by himself as long as I remember…"

There was a pause.

"What were we talking about?" Conan asked.

"The roses," Haibara said. "Anyway, I was on my way to pick them up whenever I saw him emerge from a grocery store."

"Gin?" Conan asked.

"Yes," Haibara said.

"Did he see you?" Conan asked.

"Yes," Haibara said. "He looked straight at me. Then he stopped walking, stared at me for a few more seconds, and then got into his black Porsche and drove off."

"You didn't do anything stupid, did you?" Conan asked.

"No," Haibara said. "I knew that if I tried to run that'd confirm whatever suspicions he had. So I stood there and stared back at him."

"Idiot, you could've just casually walked away," Conan said.

"I didn't want to turn my back to him," Haibara said. "And you know that I don't think straight when those men in black are nearby."

"Fair enough," Conan said. "So, you decided to tag along with me, Ran, and uncle for this case because you felt the need to get away from Tokyo for a little while. I wonder why Gin's here though. He must have a reason. When Gin got into his car did you see Vodka?"

"No," Haibara said. "In fact, he appeared to be looking around nervously before getting into the car. There was something else strange as well."

"Something else?" Conan asked.

"I didn't detect that scent on him," Haibara said. "That scent that all the men in black have."

"I see," Conan said. "Perhaps whatever he's doing he doesn't want the Black Organization knowing about it?"

Haibara nodded. "Probably."

They sat back down in their seats.

"So, could you tell me a bit more about the case?" Kogoro asked Mr. Miyazaki.

"Yes," Mr. Miyazaki said. "My daughter's name was Atsuko. She was 18 years old, she was a college student, and she was dating a young man named Takeru Nishimura, age 20. The murder occurred in the Ballroom on the 33rd Floor at 6:40 PM. Inspector Jugo Yokomizo is at the hotel waiting for your arrival."

"Waiting for my…OH CRAP!" Kogoro exclaimed. "I forgot to tell Amuro-kun!"

Rei Furuya, AKA Tooru Amuro, laid in bed with a half-used box of tissues sitting on the bed next to him. His phone suddenly rang. Groggily he reached for the smartphone and tapped "Answer".

"Hello?" he answered.

"Amuro-kun, it is I, the great detective Mouri-san," Kogoro said. "I'm on my way to the Miyazaki Hotel in Kanagawa to solve a murder case."

"I'm sorry, but I can't come today, Mouri-sensei," Rei said. "I've got the flu. Even my boss told me to take the day off. Poor Azusa-san has to fill in for me at Café Poirot."

"I see," Kogoro said. "I'm sorry to hear that. Well, bye."

Kogoro hung up the phone. "Amuro-kun isn't coming."

Haibara sighed in relief. That man had tried to kill her once, so shwas glad that she wouldn't have to deal with him today.

 **Scene Transition**

They at last arrived in the Miyazaki Hotel parking lot.

"Ran, did you remember to bring our _secret weapon_?" Kogoro asked.

Secret weapon? Conan thought. What could this be?

Ran nodded. "It's in the trunk. I've got enough for Ai-kun as well."

That's how Conan ended up in a game of dominoes with Ran and Haibara in the hotel lobby.

"Cheer up, Conan-kun," Ran said. "You know, Shinichi used to hate this game as well but eventually he came to love it."

Conan gave his deadpan look, indicative that he was laughing inside. The truth was that when they were both 12 Yukiko had begun arranging "domino dates" between Shinichi and Ran every Friday afternoon. Shinichi hated the game from the start and he voiced his displeasure quite boisterously until one day Yukiko threatened to get rid of all the detective novels in the Kudo library if Shinichi didn't begin acting like he enjoyed the game. Fortunately for him the domino dates stopped when they were both 14.

With a bored look Conan put down his last domino. "I win."

"You're really good at this, Conan-kun," Ran said. "Have you played this game before?"

"Uh, no way!" Conan lied nervously. "It's just beginner's luck I guess!"

"But you've won both rounds," Ran said.

Kogoro was waiting on the adjacent couch impatiently. Then Mr. and Mrs. Miyazaki, Inspector Yokomizo, and 4 other men emerged from the elevator and walked over to Kogoro.

"We're here, Mouri," Jugo Yokomizo said. "And I've brought all the suspects with me along with the sole witness to the crime."

It was apparent that Mrs. Miyazaki had been crying.

"How did you narrow down the list of suspects?" Kogoro asked.

"Based on the witness's description of the perpetrator," Inspector Yokomizo said. "She says it was clear that the culprit was a man by looking at his figure. He had a skinny build and was left-handed so we narrowed it down to guests and employees of the hotel on that day who were male, skinny, at around the height that the witness described, and left-handed. That leaves these four gentlemen."

The four suspects were as following:

One Takeru Nishimura, the victim's boyfriend, age 20, and an employee of the Miyazaki Hotel

Two Yamato Matsubara, age 44, logger and a convicted felon

Three Taichi Sakuramoto, age 33, an employee of the Miyazaki Hotel

Four Izumi Maeda, age 27, doctor

"You said Matsubara-san is a convicted felon?" Kogoro asked.

"Yes," Inspector Yokomizo said. "He spent 25 years in prison for a bank robbery that ended with him shooting his partner over a dispute on how the money was to be divided. He was just released 6 months ago, in fact."

"I swear it wasn't me!" Mr. Matsubara protested. "I've been trying hard to keep away from the criminal life since my release! Besides, what motive would I have for shooting that girl? You must believe me officer!"

"Do they have alibis?" Kogoro asked.

"I was in the Workout Room on the 25th floor," Mr. Matsubara said. "I went there around 6:20. Two workers were talking outside and they were still there talking when I left around 6:50. They would've seen me had I left before then."

"Are there any security cameras which can verify any of this?" Kogoro asked.

"There aren't any active security cameras," Takeru explained. "To save costs we hang them up all over the hotel to deter any would-be troublemakers but we don't leave them on. Those security cameras are really old and many of them don't even work anymore but Miyazaki-san didn't want to pay for new cameras."

"Save costs?" Kogoro asked. "Oh yeah, if I recall correctly Miyazaki-san had said something earlier about the hotel being upon hard times."

"There was in fact one employee, a 22 year old Ryutaro Kimura, who verified Matsubara-san's alibi," Inspector Yokomizo said, looking at his notes.

"I was in my room on the 27th floor watching TV the whole time," Mr. Maeda said. "I don't really have any way of proving this now that I know that the security cameras don't work, but…oh yeah, I ordered room service."

"It's true," Inspector Yokomizo said, looking at his notes again. "One employee, a 53 year old Fumiko Hayashi, testifies that at 8:42 she came to his room with the food he ordered and he opened the door to take it."

"Still, that'd give him two minutes," Kogoro said.

"I was in the lobby preparing the meal," Mr. Sakuramoto said. "Three workers were there with me. They can confirm my alibi."

"This is also true," Inspector Yokomizo said.

"I was on the Master Floor waiting for Miyazaki-san to emerge from the shower," Takeru said sadly while looking down at the floor, him having learned of the death of the love of his life the night prior. "I was alone up there for several minutes, so unfortunately I have no alibi."

"The Master Floor?" Kogoro asked.

"Yes," Takeru said. "The Miyazaki Hotel has 36 floors. The lobby is the 1st Floor. As far as guests are concerned it goes up 32 floors to the 33rd Floor. However, there is a 34th Floor, the Master Floor, where the Miyazaki family lives. There are also two basement floors, B1 and B2."

"I see," Kogoro said. "Did you and Miyazaki-san communicate during any point while he was taking a shower?"

"No," Takeru said. "I just spent that time watching TV."

"How long was he in the shower?" Kogoro asked.

"He entered the bathroom at 6:35 and he came out at 6:48," Takeru said. "We were supposed to meet up with Atusko-chan and her mother at 6:50 PM."

"And the crime occurred at 6:40," Kogoro said. "Miyazaki-san, can you confirm what he just said?"

"Yes," Mr. Miyazaki said. "Takeru-kun was in the room when I entered the shower and he was there when I came out. I did not hear the sound of a door opening or closing during that time, though to be fair that shower is pretty loud."

"I see," Kogoro said. Then he looked at Megumi Miyazaki. "Ma'am, can you tell me exactly what happened?"

"Yes," Mrs. Miyazaki said. "Atsuko and I were up in the Ballroom talking while waiting for Nobuyuki to come downstairs and join us. Also, Sakuramoto-san and several other employees were preparing the food for the occasion. Anyways, like you've heard it was at exactly 6:40 when a skinny man in a mask wielding a gun entered the Ballroom. He pointed his gun at Atsuko, and then he…and then he…"

Mrs. Miyazaki broke down into sobs. Mr. Miyazaki put his arms around her.

"I see," Kogoro said. "At any rate, I'm going to need to check out the 33rd and 34th Floors for myself."

"Of course," Mr. Miyazaki said. "Right this way, Mouri-san."

Fortunately, the whole conversation had been within Conan's earshot.

"I need to use the bathroom," Conan said in a very childlike voice to Ran.

He then put his mouth up to Haibara's ear and whispered "Keep her busy."

Conan then ran for the Stair Room. "Don't get lost!" Ran called out after him.

 **Scene Transition**

The elevator arrived on the 33rd Floor. They walked down the hallway towards the Ballroom.

"Listen, uh, inspector," Izumi Maeda said. "I understand that this is an ongoing murder investigation. But is there any way that we could go soon? I've already had to call in sick for work today because of all this."

"Soon," Inspector Yokomizo said. "But for now we can't afford for you to leave yet."

They arrived in the Ballroom.

"So this is where the murder took place," Kogoro said.

"Yes," Mrs. Miyazaki said. "After that man…shot her in the head he closed the doors and used a crowbar to seal them. All that I thought to do during that time was to call 110 and then pound on the door and scream to get the attention of anyone nearby. It wasn't until 6:49 when Sakuramoto-san arrived, noticed the sealed door and the sound of my pounding and screaming, and opened it. I then told him to hurry and tell Nobuyuki what happened." The police arrived at 11:53."

Conan, who was standing outside the door panting, knew that he'd need to get inside and check the room without Kogoro noticing. He couldn't use his tranquilizer wristwatch because it could only carry one dart at a time, so…

Conan hid behind the open door and turned the settings of his voice-changing bowtie to that of an adult male.

"Inspector, I've found something!" Conan interjected.

As he predicted, everyone in the room suddenly rushed out into the hallway to find where that voice was coming from. Conan took advantage of this opening to slip into the room. He knew that at best he'd have about half a minute to search the room before Kogoro noticed him.

On the floor was that tape used by the police to provide a model for where the victim was found and what position the victim was in even after the body had been transported from the scene. The police apparently had already spotted and confiscated for evidence the now empty cartridge used by the culprit.

After twenty seconds of looking around he failed to find anything important. Just when he was starting to search the floors for any trace that the culprit may've left behind…

Conan's head suddenly became once again intimately acquainted with Kogoro's fist.

"What are you doing in here you brat?!" Kogoro exclaimed. "Wasn't Ran supposed to be playing dominoes with you and that other brat?!"

"Sorry!" Conan called out, running out of the room as fast as he could.

 **Scene Transition**

Ran and Haibara casually played dominoes on the first floor.

"Conan-kun's been gone for a while," Ran said.

"And you believe that he's snooping around the crime scene right now," Haibara said.

Ran nodded. "I should probably go upstairs and look for him."

"Why?" Haibara asked.

"Because he's a kid," Ran said.

"Is it that you fear he'll interfere with the investigation or that something might happen to him?" Haibara asked.

"Some of both," Ran said.

"But yet it's unequivocally true that his observations have aided in the solving of many cases," Haibara said.

"I know," Ran said. "But father finds Conan-kun's presence at crime scenes very irritating."

"You care about your father's temper more than the fact that Conan-kun's presence at crime scenes is helpful to investigations?" Haibara asked. "Isn't it true that your father emerged from a long period without any cases and a poor record as a detective on the day that Conan-kun first entered his and your life?"

Ran was silent.

"There's something about Conan-kun," Haibara said. "Something that reminds you of your missing boyfriend. You cannot help but to notice it and the feeling it gives you cannot be explained away. And this feeling terrifies you. You perhaps fear that what happened to your missing boyfriend will one day happen to him?"

Ran's facial expression changed. Haibara could tell that she had struck a nerve.

Who is this girl? Ran thought. How does she know exactly how I feel? This eight year old kid…

"Why?" Haibara probed.

"That's enough questions," Ran snapped, uncomfortable by how this girl was peering right into her soul. "I'm going upstairs to get him. Wait here."

 **Scene Transition**

Because the door was unlocked Conan was able to slip onto the Master Floor. He calculated that he'd have at least a minute or two before Kogoro came up. Still, he'd have to work fast.

So, this room was where Takeru Nishimura, boyfriend of the victim and thus the person who'd be only one of the four suspects to have the connection to the victim needed to possess a possible motive for murdering her, claimed to be at the time of the crime. It was possible that one of the other three suspects was hired as a hitman, but in this case wouldn't Takeru stay completely away from the Miyazaki Hotel on the day of the crime and give himself an unshakable alibi? If Takeru did do it, then he most likely did not hire a hitman. The crime wasn't a robbery gone wrong because of the fact that the culprit immediately shot Atsuko and then fled. The murderer thus had entered the room with the sole purpose of killing the victim, meaning that he must've had some kind of connection to her in order to have a reason for doing so. Conan concluded that the killer was none other than a person who either knew intimately or was related to the victim. The two possible suspects were, thus, Takeru and Mrs. Miyazaki. Mrs. Miyazaki could've just shot Atsuko, hid the weapon on her person and disposed of it later, and made the culprit up. Then again, that door was sealed with a crowbar from the outside, something which Mrs. Miyazaki could not pull off without some amazingly clever trick.

Conan looked around the floor. In the Living Room there were several photographs hanging on the wall. Conan looked at them. Then something about those pictures caught his eye.

Mr. Miyazaki is wearing a short-sleeve shirt and shorts in every one of these pictures, Conan noted. Even in pictures taken in the winter he was wearing a short sleeve shirt. In fact, Mr. Miyazaki didn't wear dress clothes even whenever he met with several foreign investors, including prominent American businessman Ronald Rump. One picture, which was taken 4 months ago, showed him wearing a short sleeve shirt and shorts.

But downstairs Mr. Miyazaki was with Kogoro and the others, clad in a long-sleeve shirt and pants. Why the change?

Conan then felt compelled to investigate the bathroom which Mr. Miyazaki was inside of while the murder was occurring. It was a very large bathroom with light blue tiles covering the floor. There was a clothes hamper which the Miyazaki family presumably placed dirty towels and rags inside of after taking showers. Suddenly something caught Conan's eye: there was a string sticking out from underneath the clothes hamper. Curious, Conan moved the clothes hamper to the side. Then he saw what was underneath. He opened it…

So that's how it was, Conan thought. He had solved this case. All that he needed to do was confirm a few more things.

 **Scene Transition**

Conan dashed out of the 34th Floor and went down the stairs, running past an angry Kogoro. He took the elevator to the Lobby.

"Excuse me," Conan said to the employee manning the front desk. "Uncle Mouri told me to ask you some questions about Miyazaki-san."

"Questions?" the employee repeated.

"Have there been any strange rumors about Miyazaki-san circulating for the past 4 months or so?" Conan asked.

"Strange rumors?" the employee repeated. "As a matter of fact, there is one. It would appear that Miyazaki-san is throwing a lot of food away. It's as though a lot of the time he only pretends to have eaten food delivered to him, such as the lunches that his wife sends to him."

"Has he been constantly wearing long sleeve shirts and pants for the past few months?" Conan asked.

"Yes," the employee says. "Come to think of it it's been several months since I've seen him in shorts or anything of that manner. Ah, there's even a rumor going around that lately Miyazaki-san has been going to bed in his work clothes."

"Also, are there any rooms on the 33rd Floor which Miyazaki-san has recently forbid any employee from entering and any guest from staying in?" Conan asked.

"Yes," the employee said. "There actually is one such room. It's down the hallway from the Ballroom."

Then everything is confirmed, Conan thought to himself. This mystery was solved.

He then saw Haibara sitting by herself on the couch.

"Where's Ran?" he asked.

"Looking for you," she answered.

Ran suddenly emerged from the elevator. "Conan-kun! Where were you?"

"The bathroom," Conan said with a nervous chuckle.

"You wouldn't happen to have been disturbing father during his investigation, would you?" Ran asked.

"Of course not!" Conan lied.

"YOU!"

Kogoro emerged from the elevator. He advanced slowly towards Conan, his face bright red.

"I TOLD you a thousand times to STAY AWAY from crime scenes!" Kogoro exploded. "How many times do I need to…"

He suddenly felt a light prick on his neck. What started out as a light stinging sensation immediately turned into a feeling of uncontrollable drowsiness. Kogoro stumbled like a drunk man and fell down onto the sofa. Then he lost consciousness.

It's showtime, uncle, Conan thought. He turned the knob on his voice-changing bowtie to meet the specifications of Kogoro's voice. Then he hid behind the couch. "Ran, please go upstairs and tell Inspector Yokomizo and the others to come down here. I've solved the case."

"Right," Ran said. She headed for the elevator.

"It should take them about 5 minutes to come down here," Conan said, emerging from behind the couch.

"So I finally get to see the great Sleeping Kogoro in action," Haibara said, more amused than anything.

"Excuse me while I make a quick phone call," Conan said.

He ran to the opposite corner of the room and began to dial a number on his cell phone…

About five minutes later Ran, Inspector Yokomizo, Mr. and Mrs. Miyazaki, and the four suspects came out of the elevator.

"Ah, Inspector," Conan/Kogoro said. "I'm glad that you're finally here."

"I take it you've solved the case then?" Inspector Yokomizo asked.

"Indeed I did," Conan/Kogoro confirmed. "The culprit is…THAT PERSON!"

 **To Be Continued**

( _Kimi to Yakusoku Shita Yasashii Ano Basho Made_ by La PomPon)

 _Kimi ga tetsuzen inakunaru yume wo saikin yoku miru no yo to_

 _Utsumuku watashi ni nanimo iwazu ni_

 _POKETTO no naka de tsuyoku te wo nigirishimeta kimi_

 _Iro wo kisoiaisaku hana you ni_

 _Monougena ame ni sae mo yori seno sugata ga kagayaku you ni_

 _Kimi to yakusoku shita yasashii ano basho made_

 _Ima wa mada futari otagaihashiritsudzuke you ne_

 _Kimi to azayakana iro ni naru seno toki made_

 _Aenai hibi ga iteshisa wo mashiteyuku yo seshite itsu no hi ni ka_

 _Kimi to yakusoku shita yasashii ano basho made_

 _Nigemichi wo fuyaseba yokei meiro ni hamaru yo ne_

 _Tatoe hyoushiki no nai michi ga tsudzuita toshitemo_

 _Shinjiau kimehi wo michishirube ni yuku yo yasashii ano basho made_

 **NEXT CONAN'S HINT:** "Fat man, skinny man"


	2. Episode 2 (884)

(Note to reader: as Detective Conan was written by a Japanese person and takes place in Japan, it is assumed that all text within the story is Japanese translated to English for the reader's convenience except for italicized text, which whenever used indicates that what's written is the original, exact, untranslated version. Or, italicized text may be used to indicate a flashback sequence. This choice of italics usage can be useful whenever characters within this fanfic use English words or phrases or whenever the author wishes to use Japanese words in the Latin script, as in the Ending. Underlined text may indicate the title of a book, poem, etcetera but it is also used to indicate that certain text is part of the lyrics of the Opening and Ending songs that are generally associated with Detective Conan and anime in general. Boldened text may be used to indicate the episode's title, what day it is, what time of day it is, location, etc. All content may not be suitable for children; reader discretion advised. I obviously do not own the rights to the Detective Conan franchise; this work is called a "fanfic" for a reason. I plan on making this a four-parter series; this is part two. I did my best to write it as though it were a novelized version of a canon four-part episode arc from the anime series. In this case, the Birthday Surprise arc is meant to comprise episodes 883-886 of the anime series; at the time of writing there have been less than 810 episodes of the anime series made, not counting OVAs, movies, and other stuff like that. Enjoy!)

 **THE SIXTH**

Ran, Inspector Yokomizo, Mr. and Mrs. Miyazaki, and the four suspects came out of the elevator.

"Ah, Inspector," Conan/Kogoro said. "I'm glad that you're finally here."

"I take it you've solved the case then?" Inspector Yokomizo asked.

"Indeed I did," Conan/Kogoro confirmed. "The culprit is…THAT PERSON!"

 **OPENING:**

Truth is the convergence of many facts into a beam of light that pierces the shadows!

In today's case the men in black finally show themselves! This presents both a great opportunity and a great danger!

With the body of a child but the brain of an adult, his name is DETECTIVE CONAN!

[ _SILVER BULLET_ by Egoist]

You wipe the blood off your hands, leave the body to the crows

Then you re-enter the crowd, having become a wolf among the lambs

You have made the devil's bargain, yet still you walk among the saints

You let out a sigh and you dare to believe that "nobody will ever know"

A child's cry, a sobbing promise to a dying loved one, words never forgotten

Years pass, his passion undiminished by time wasted and empty leads

He at last finds the golden key that opens the door to the closed case

In the middle of a night like any other, a thousand lights shine upon you!

As long as people continue to devise ways to hurt each other

We will remain faithful and vigilant soldiers in the war on crime

Remembering that oath I swore to protect and serve I draw my gun

In a moment of clarity and brilliance the SILVER BULLET is fired!

 **A Birthday Surprise from the Black Organization: Part Two!**

A silent, starry night. Just like the night before. The difference was that this time Gin's brother sat in the car with him.

"Do you really think he's going to show?" Ale asked.

"He must," Gin said. "I've got leverage which he simply can't afford to ignore."

So they continued to sit in the dark, the only source of light being that streetlight outside.

Gin looked at his brother. It had been so long since they had seen each other. It had to have been at least two years. Gin was a man who normally scorned sentiment and attachments. He felt that it made people soft. Despite this philosophy Gin stubbornly refused to remove from his heart such a soft spot for his brother and the memory of the things that they had gone through together growing up.

Gin and Ale were born Dylan and Max Cliffberg, respectively. Despite the two of them having been born in Ohio on the same day and year as dizygotic twins, their father, a soldier with the US Marine Corps, caused his family to move to Okinawa where he was stationed when Dylan and Max were only 2 years old.

Whenever Dylan and Max were six years old, three US soldiers stationed in Okinawa (one who was with the navy and two who were with the marines) kidnapped, beat, and raped a 12 year old Japanese girl, sparking outrage among the populace of Okinawa. The day after this incident occurred, Dylan and Max's parents went out to eat at a local restaurant, despite warnings that they should stay on base until the anger of the locals cooled down a bit. In the parking lot they were assaulted by five Japanese youth wielding baseball bats. The injuries that both sustained were too severe and life support was cut off after 1 week.

Because the Cliffberg parents had no siblings and the grandparents were either disabled, dead, or unwilling to take the two kids, Dylan and Max were placed in the custody of the Japanese Government and put in an orphanage in Tokyo.

Because of how young they were when their parents died and because of their sudden placement among an otherwise completely Japanese group of kids, Dylan and Max learned to speak Japanese as their main language, their English skills with time coming to be very poor. Both stood out in the orphanage because of their Caucasian racial features and their blond hair. This caused them to be subjected to much bullying, especially from a pack of older boys led by a troublemaker named Kenshi. Dylan would fight ferociously to defend himself and his brother from Kenshi and his gang.

One night, after having suffered a particularly brutal beating from Kenshi, Dylan snuck into Kenshi's room while the older boy was asleep and he wrung his hands around Kenshi's neck in an attempt to strangle the older boy. Kenshi awoke immediately and struggled in vain to get Dylan off of him. Dylan let go just seconds before Kenshi passed out from lack of air and he fled the room. This incident was enough to instill a sense of fear in Kenshi of Dylan, and after this the two brothers were mostly left alone by Kenshi's gang.

After they turned 11 they began to explore their sexuality. This culminated into a plot when they were both 12 to rape a 13 year old girl named Akane. With makeshift masks to cover their whole heads they ambushed Akane in an empty alleyway. During the struggle Akane managed to pull off part of Max's mask, revealing his blond hair. Panicking, Dylan took a brick and slammed it repeatedly into Akane's head, killing her. They then made an attempt to hide the body, but to their horror the body was discovered in less than 30 minutes. Realizing that it wouldn't take long for the police to trace the crime back to them, Dylan and Max made a run for it, carrying with them only enough food to last 3 days and some water bottles.

Somehow they had managed to travel 50 miles whenever they collapsed from exhaustion at the doorstep of a stranger's house. This stranger, however, was a member of the Black Organization, and he recruited the two children into the organization.

For the next 5 years the two of them trained in the ways of the Black Organization. Upon "graduating" from a training facility in Russia known simply as The Distillery, Dylan was given the codename Gin and Max was given the codename Ale. This was the beginning of their many years spent in service to the Black Organization.

2 years ago, however, Ale made a fatal mistake which forced him to flee the Black Organization with some help from Gin. Ale immigrated to the _United States_ and with the help of some people from America's black markets he managed to give himself the fake identity of Freddy McDouglas. From there he joined the _United States Armed Forces_. Gin, meanwhile, remained in service to the Organization. The codename "Ale" was subsequently given to another agent.

Finally Gin and Ale saw the headlights of a car making its way into the abandoned parking lot.

"When the car stops you approach from the left and I'll approach from the right," Gin said.

Ale nodded. After the car came to a halt they surrounded it on both sides. Moonshine stepped out of the car. Gin stood upright and relaxed, putting his gun back into his holster.

"You can relax, Max," Gin called out. "It's Moonshine."

Moonshine was a man of about 40 years old. He had beady eyes, glasses, slightly "off" Caucasian features, a beard, and a strange flat hat which Gin suspected was worn for religious purposes.

Ale walked over to the other side of the vehicle. "You got the info we're after?"

"Yes and no," Moonshine answered.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Gin asked, his temper beginning to flare.

"I had a limited amount of time at my disposal before this meeting so out of the three individuals who you told me to investigate I was only able to find out the whereabouts of one of them," Moonshine said.

"Sherry?" Gin pressed.

"No," Moonshine said. "Shinichi Kudo."

"So he's still alive?" Gin asked.

"Yes," Moonshine confirmed. "Shinichi Kudo is still alive. Well, in a way he is and in a way he isn't."

"Don't play games with us, old man," Gin threatened.

"All right, all right," Moonshine said. "Geez. A few days ago I was sitting at my desk, frustrated because I couldn't seem to figure out Sherry's or Akai's location. I decided to take a break, so I started reading that day's edition of the local newspaper. Then I saw something that piqued my interest."

"And what was that?" Ale asked.

"I saw an article about a group of four children who called themselves the 'Detective Boys'. They had solved a drug-smuggling case at an airport in Gunma Prefecture."

"Children?" Gin asked. "How could children…?"

"That's what I wondered. So I decided to dig a little deeper. Did you know that in this past year these children were involved in the solving of over a dozen cases? But here's the thing: it only began in the past year. Turns out that these four children originally consisted of a group of three. Whenever the fourth member of their group appeared was when they started solving crimes."

"A fourth…child?" Ale asked. "What does that have to do with Shinichi Kudo?"

"Naturally, I decided that I would investigate this fourth child. He sounded like an interesting figure. Did you know that this 7 or 8 year old child, whose name is Conan Edogawa, first appeared in this world on the day that Shinichi Kudo disappeared?"

"What do you mean?" Gin asked, his curiosity aroused.

"This child first made contact with Ran Mouri, daughter of that famous detective Mouri, and an elderly scientist named Dr. Hiroshi Agasa, at the home of Shinichi Kudo about one hour after you fled the scene upon having Shinichi Kudo ingest APTX 4869. I delved deeper into it and this child has no birth certificate and no form of ID whatsoever. His alleged parents were never named. He just started living with Ran Mouri and her father on that day. Whatmore, Ran Mouri was a close friend of Shinichi Kudo."

"What are you implying, old man?" Gin asked.

"That's not the end of it," Moonshine continued, ignoring Gin's remark. "The day that this Conan Edogawa first appeared in the home of Detective Mouri was the beginning of an ongoing string of cases solved by Mouri and him becoming famous as a result. Prior to this he hadn't had a single client in months and he was known to be a 'lousy detective' by one of his former coworkers. The child is Shinichi Kudo. The number of 'coincidences' is far too high."

"Except that you're forgetting one important thing," Gin said. "It's utterly impossible. A teenager cannot revert back to being a young child."

"There are, of course, two last pieces of evidence that prove this child is Shinichi Kudo," Moonshine said. "First, I made contact with one of my old acquaintances within the organization. A cleaning lady who worked at the Miyano laboratory told me that while the APTX 4869 experimental trials were going on lab rats were injected with the drug. She said she could've sworn that one rat which didn't die became an infant rat again."

Gin's eyes grew big. "The Miyanos were working on a de-aging drug?! Is THAT what I had this Kudo ingest?!"

"Finally, there is my second piece of evidence which should clear all doubts as to Conan Edogawa's identity," Moonshine said. "Here is a picture of Conan Edogawa. Sorry, I couldn't resist."

He handed the picture of Conan Edogawa with a sullen look on his face wearing panda pajamas to Gin.

"Now, after acquiring this picture from Ran Mouri's Facebook page I had a certain acquaintance of mine use aging software on this picture."

With a look of victory in his eyes he handed Gin the picture of Conan Edogawa aged 10 years.

"I don't get what you're…" Gin paused. "Old man, email this picture to my phone right away."

Moonshine did so. Then Gin emailed his partner Vodka the picture with the following message attached: "Who is this person?"

About one minute later Vodka sent the following reply: "This person is Shinichi Kudo, that nosy teenage detective who you tested that drug on at that amusement park. Why do you ask? Have you spotted him just now?"

"Do you believe me now?" Moonshine asked Gin.

"…Yeah," Gin asked. "Good work."

"Dylan, you don't actually believe that Shinichi Kudo shrunk, do you?" Ale asked.

"Yeah, I do," Gin said. "I've seen a lot of insane things in this world. This is just one of them, I suppose. Also, this would explain who put that listening device and tracker on the bottom of Kir's shoe during that mission a while back. I assumed that it was Mouri Kogoro but now that I think about it that kid must've done it."

"I guess my work here is done then," Moonshine said, opening the door to his car.

Gin grabbed him by the arm. "Hold up. You're not done yet. I'm going to need all the manpower I can get for this job."

"But brother, he's in the body of a 7 or 8 year old," Ale said. "He should be fairly easy to deal with."

"If what Moonshine says is true, then this child is the world's greatest detective," Gin said. "I have a feeling that he'll be a much more formidable opponent than he looks."

"What's the deal?" Ale asked. "It's not as though you can't just snipe him from a rooftop several hundred yards away. Even if you've lost the ability to do so, I can just fine."

"Wrong," Gin said. "I need him alive."

"But…I thought the whole purpose of my services was to…" Moonshine stuttered, confused.

"Oh, I will definitely kill him," Gin said. "But first, I've got some questions to ask him. Questions about Sherry…"

 **Scene Transition**

"The culprit is…you, Miyazaki-san!" Conan/Kogoro announced.

Like moths to a flame every eye in the room was turned towards Mr. Miyazaki.

It took him a few seconds to visibly get over the shock of what he had just heard Kogoro say, but Mr. Miyazaki managed to let out a chuckle. "Really, Mouri-san? Really? Out of all these suspicious people you happened to pick the one guy who couldn't possibly be the culprit? I overestimated you."

"Oh yes, it was you," Conan/Kogoro reaffirmed. "Color me impressed, Miyazaki-san. The method that you used was definitely unconventional. That having been said, you used your cleverness to take the life of another human being and I cannot ever praise you for doing that."

"But Mouri, what about the other suspects?!" Inspector Yokomizo asked. "Nishimura could've done it quite easily! How about the victim's mother? She could've just shot Atsuko-kun and made up the whole story about this mysterious culprit who only she happened to see! Why then do you suspect Miyazaki-san?"

"Please, Inspector. It is not possible for the victim's mother to have committed the crime," Conan/Kogoro said. "The crowbar could not have been used to seal the door to the Ballroom by a person who was inside the room. Not unless there was some kind of hidden passageway in and out of the Ballroom. As for Nishimu…"

Conan sneezed, that sneeze translating into the voice-changing bowtie as Kogoro's sneeze.

"Bless you," Mr. Miyazaki said.

"Thanks," Conan/Kogoro said. "Anyway, Takeru-kun could have done it, I suppose. But there is a more suspicious culprit. And that person is Miyazaki-san. Allow me to…"

Conan sneezed again.

"Father, are you not feeling well?" Ran asked.

"I might have caught Conan's cold," Conan/Kogoro answered. "It's nothing to concern yourself about. Anyway, allow me to explain why I suspect Miyazaki-san. Megumi-san, has your husband at some point in the last few months decided to do some repair work on a bathroom in the Master Floor?"

Megumi Miyazaki was surprised by the question. "Yes, as a matter of fact he did. 2 months ago."

"Did he send you and Atsuko-kun away on a trip somewhere while this work was carried out?" Conan/Kogoro asked.

"Yes," Mrs. Miyazaki said. "What does that…?"

"Thank you," Conan/Kogoro said. "I strongly suspect that this alleged repair work was done as a façade to install a hidden trap door in the bathroom. Inspector, please send somebody up there to check underneath the clothes hamper for a hidden trap door. Earlier Conan spotted some suspicious looking strings hanging out from underneath the clothes hamper in the Master Floor bathroom and he told me about this."

Inspector Yokomizo turned to one of his assistants. "Go check it out."

The assistant nodded and headed for the elevator.

"Anyway, here's what I think happened," Conan/Kogoro explained. "At 6:35 Miyazaki-san entered the bathroom. He turned the shower on and changed into a pair of clothes and a mask which he presumably hid in there ahead of time. Then he moved the clothes hamper aside and accessed the trap door, using it to lower himself into a hotel room on the 33rd Floor. His gun and crowbar, two tools which he'd need to commit this crime, were waiting. He then made his way to the Ballroom, where he shot Atsuko-kun. Then he put the crowbar over the door so that it'd be several minutes before she could make it out of the room and alert somebody about what had happened. He needed to buy himself some time to get back up into the Master Floor's bathroom through the way that he went and to finish his shower. He went back up the trap door, closed it, put the clothes hamper over it, and took a very quick shower. He then emerged from the bathroom just in time for somebody to come upstairs to alert him that Atsuko-kun had been shot."

Then there was a yawn. Conan winced as Kogoro stood up.

Crap, Conan thought. This wasn't good; Kogoro had never woken up in the middle of the "Sleeping Kogoro Deduction Show" before.

"Huh?" a half-awake Kogoro muttered. "Why's everyone looking at me like they expect me to…?"

Then seemingly out of nowhere another dart stung Kogoro in the neck. Once again he began to make weird noises and lose his balance. Shocked, Conan looked around. Then he saw a stun gun wristwatch on Haibara's wrist. She held out her arm as though she had just aimed and fired it.

Must've been a gift from the professor, Conan thought. She looked at him as to signal for him to continue.

"Sorry about that," Conan/Kogoro said after Kogoro finally fell back down on the couch. "I just felt the need to stretch my legs a bit. Anyway, the shower alibi trick is the first part of Miyazaki-san's three-pronged alibi trick to clear himself of all suspicion of the crime."

At that moment Inspector Yokomizo's assistant came back downstairs. "Sir, it's just as Mouri-san said! There's a trapdoor beneath the clothes hamper! It leads to an empty hotel room on the 33rd Floor which is across the hall from the Ballroom!"

Mr. Miyazaki sighed. "It's true that I had that trapdoor installed. But it's not for the reason that you think, Mouri-san. There's only one entrance and exit to the Master Floor. What if access to that door were blocked off by a person or a fire? For this reason I decided that the Master Floor needed a secret exit. Besides, it's questionable that a fat man like me would be able to fit through that trap door. And speaking of fat, didn't Megumi say that the culprit was a skinny man?"

"Ah yes, that," Conan/Kogoro said. "This is the second part of your three-pronged alibi trick. Regardless of the reason that you built the trap door, it's clear that the first part of your alibi is no longer valid. As for Megumi-san's description of the culprit, this was pulled off by means of a clever trick on Miyazaki-san's part. When Conan went up to the Master Floor without permission he noticed that in all the pictures hanging on the walls dating back to the past 3 or 4 months Miyazaki-san has been wearing long sleeve and pants in contrast to earlier pictures where he was wearing short sleeve and shorts. Also, according to one employee for the past several months rumors have been circulating that Miyazaki-san has been wasting food."

"Those are just silly rumors," Mr. Miyazaki said with a nervous chuckle. "Tell me who you heard that from so I can fire him or her."

"The above facts have led me to the following conclusion," Conan/Kogoro continued, ignoring Mr. Miyazaki's remarks. "You, Miyazaki-san, have for the past several months been secretly following a very strict diet and exercise routine to lose large amounts of weight. From the beginning you've been keeping a very close eye on how big someone of your weight is supposed to look. For instance, whenever your waistline shrinks by half an inch you'd fill in half an inch with whatever you have underneath your long-sleeve shirt. This same logic applied to your pants, legs, and so on. All this is done so that nobody would notice that you've lost weight. The tricky part is, of course, your head and neck, which you cannot keep covered. Even that, however, can be handle by the use of skin-colored rubber applied to your face and neck and the skillful use of makeup. The gun was likely acquired through a black market dealer and you probably spent some time learning how to effectively use a gun with your non-dominant hand to help strengthen your alibi, if only by a tiny bit."

Like a cornered animal Mr. Miyazaki took a step away from everyone. "Where's your proof?! These claims are outrageous! I demand to see…"

"You wouldn't then mind submitting to a strip search then, would you Miyazaki-san?" Conan/Kogoro asked.

There was a pause. Mr. Miyazaki's face was hanging in shame and defeat.

"That's what I thought," Conan/Kogoro said. "The third part of your alibi trick was, of course, the decision to hire one of Japan's greatest and most famous detectives to solve this case. Nobody would suspect that the culprit would do such a thing. So, are you ready to confess, or do I need to go on?"

Overwhelmed, Mr. Miyazaki fell to his knees. "Everything that Mouri-san said is the truth."

Mrs. Miyazaki's eyes grew wide and they swelled with tears. " _Anata_ , why? WHY did you kill our daughter?!"

There was a ten second pause. Then, Mr. Miyazaki spoke. "Whenever we first married I considered myself the happiest man in the world. You were very beautiful, you had a great personality, and I felt that I would've died for you if the need arose. When you gave birth to Atsuko I felt that my life was complete. But then, as the years went by something began to change inside of me. You had gotten older, fatter, and much of your beauty faded. The daily routine grew monotonous and wearisome. One day I woke up and wondered what repulsive, hideous woman was lying right beside me. My life had become a mockery of the happiness which I thought I'd enjoy. So about 5 years ago I made the decision to live my life to the fullest. I began looking at porn. Soon after I started seeing other women. Prostitutes, mostly. If I were to give an estimate I'd say that in the past 5 years I've had over 200 sexual partners."

"W…what?" Mrs. Miyazaki muttered, emotionally drained. Takeru put his hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

"One day, about a year ago Atsuko happened to find out what I'd been up to," Mr. Miyazaki continued. "That ungrateful child used it as an opportunity to blackmail me. She made me buy her an expensive imported car. You know which one I'm talking about, Megumi. The one with the steering wheel on the left side. She also made me pay for her college tuition. To do all this I had to embezzle money from the hotel. Combined with the expenses of my porn consumership, prostitute fees, regular STD testing and natural economic hardships this resulted in the hotel beginning to lose more money than it took in. But that wasn't all. 5 months ago she told me that for her birthday she wanted me to begin paying Takeru's tuition."

Takeru, who was already just barely able to process what he was hearing, fell to his knees. "She did…Atsuko did what?! But…but…I didn't know about any of this!"

"Yeah, I know," Mr. Miyazaki said. "At the time Atsuko told me that it'd be a surprise for you. If you were in on it she would've said so, especially considering that I wouldn't have been able to fire you either way. I knew that you were probably innocent, which is why I continued to treat you well."

"You…you killed your daughter to save your business?!" Takeru asked, unable to take it.

"Yeah, that's right," Mr. Miyazaki said. "This hotel was founded by my father. I didn't want to be the one who ended it. Takeru, I actually planned on passing on the hotel to you when I grew old provided that you continued working here until that day, but it looks like the Miyazaki Hotel will probably close instead."

Takeru began sobbing. Megumi Miyazaki cried even harder. Despite what was happening, Mr. Miyazaki's face remained calm. Jugo Yokomizo, having seen enough and being satisfied with Mr. Miyazaki's confession, approached the man with handcuffs.

"It's time for you to accompany us to the police station," Inspector Yokomizo said gravely.

Mr. Miyazaki stood up. But instead of complying he kicked Yokomizo in the chest to force the inspector backwards, drew the gun which presumably was used as the murder weapon, and aimed it as his own temple.

Oh no you don't, Conan thought. He activated his special shoes, pressed the button on his belt which caused an inflatable soccer ball to appear, and then kicked the ball. The gun was sent flying from Mr. Miyazki's hand and thus Mr. Miyazaki was unable to kill himself.

 **Scene Transition**

The trip back home was a quiet one because everyone except for Kogoro was exhausted. Kogoro was quite confused by Ran's insistence that he wear a surgical mask.

At last Kogoro, Ran, Conan, and Haibara arrived at the Mouri residency. They stepped inside.

"That sucks," Kogoro muttered, heading for the bathroom. "We aren't even going to get rewarded for all the trouble I went through."

I did all the work uncle, Conan thought with a deadpan look. But then he turned serious and faced Haibara. "Aren't you going to go home now?"

"I'd like to spend the night here if that's okay," Haibara said.

Say wut, Conan thought.

Haibara could clearly see that odd look Conan had on his face despite the surgical mask he was wearing. "You shouldn't think anything strange of this. You're 8 and I'm 9, remember?"

Conan sighed. "I'm going to have to ask the old man. And only for tonight. Also, we probably shouldn't tell Mitsuhiko about any of this."

"Agreed," Haibara said. "If Mouri-san's okay with this then I'll take the couch."

"What about the couch?"

Conan winced and turned around quickly. He had to wonder how much of that conversation Ran had heard.

"Uh, we were wondering if just for tonight Ai-chan could stay here," Conan said in his childlike voice.

"Why?" Ran asked, curious.

"Uh, the professor's having a lady over at his house tonight and Ai-chan felt it best to give the two of them some privacy," Conan lied nervously.

"I see," Ran said. "I'm going to have to ask father to see if it's alright with him."

"Absolutely not," Kogoro answered, not taking his eyes off Yoko's face on the TV screen. "It's bad enough with one freeloader around here. Tell 'Ai-chan' (he said mockingly) to head straight on back to the professor's house. She'd probably try to hog the TV and I'm trying to watch Yoko."

So that's what this is about, uncle, Conan thought with a deadpan look.

"Pleeeease, uncle?" Conan pleaded in a childlike voice. "She won't hog the TV."

Kogoro faced his daughter, Conan, and Haibara. All of them were looking at him with puppy-dog eyes. He sighed in annoyance. "Fine. But she's going back to the professor's house first thing tomorrow morning."

 **Scene Transition**

And so the four of them ate a very late supper. Kogoro opened the fridge to grab a cold beer, but to his dismay…

"Whaaat?!" he exclaimed. "We're all out?! But I bought three packs last week! Ran, did you…?!"

"It wasn't me!" Ran protested. "Conan-kun! Did you…?"

"Nuh uh, Ran-neechan!" Conan lied in a childlike voice. "It wasn't me either!"

Conan was able to say that without having to restrain the urge to burst out laughing because he had an entirely serious reason for doing what he did. With Ran's birthday fast approaching he felt the need to keep all traces of alcohol far away from the Mouri residency, or at least until her birthday passed.

"I'm going to the store to buy some more," Kogoro said.

Anticipating this response, one of the first things Conan did after getting home was to hide Kogoro's wallet.

Kogoro searched in vain for about 2 minutes for his wallet. Then he turned to Ran. "You wouldn't mind loaning me 2000 Yen, would you?"

"No way!" Ran said. "Just sit down and eat. You can buy yourself a stupid beer tomorrow."

Kogoro reluctantly sat down at the table and sighed. "I haven't had any beer in over 12 hours and now it seems I won't be able to have any more until tomorrow."

"It's probably better this way," Haibara said suddenly.

Conan shot her a bewildered look. How could she just say that out loud? Conan thought.

"Ai-chan!" Ran said, trying to get Haibara to not proceed with this rude conversation.

Kogoro eyed Haibara suspiciously. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"One of the best presents you could give your daughter for her birthday would be to remain sober the entire time, don't you think?" Haibara suggested.

"I know that, you 90s-haired brat," Kogoro sulked. "Her birthday isn't until the day after tomorrow so I still have time to drink until then."

Not if I can help it, Conan thought. Then he sneezed.

 **Scene Transition**

From where they were camped on a rooftop several hundred yards away Gin confirmed through his binoculars that all the lights in the Mouri residency were finally off.

"The lights are out," Gin reported.

"So do we strike now?" Moonshine, who clearly had never done this before, asked.

"We wait an hour," Gin said. "Nobody falls asleep immediately when the lights come off. If even one of them is still awake when the break-in occurs it could end very badly for us. I'd make it two hours but I'm not that patient."

"While we're waiting let's go over the layout of the Mouri apartment again," Ale said. "The residence houses three people: Kogoro Mouri, his 17 year old daughter Ran Mouri, and the target Shinichi Kudo, also known as Conan Edogawa. The second floor is Detective Mouri's office and the third floor is where they live. The door will probably be locked. Gin and I know how to pick locks so this shouldn't be a problem. They'll all be in their rooms so as long as we don't make too much noise we should be fine."

"Wrong," Gin said. "There's a fourth person sleeping in the third floor, in a sleeping bag. A little girl. We're going to have to be extra careful not to awake her."

"Anyway, Edogawa and Detective Mouri sleep in the same room," Ale said. "We'll have to take care to avoid either one of them waking up. If any of them let out a scream or make any sort of loud noise then we'll have to abort the mission."

"Wrong again," Gin said. "If we have to abort the mission they'll make their home more secure to make a second break-in attempt much more difficult if not impossible or they might even be able to give a description of us. If the situation emerges where we're unable to proceed with the mission as normal, we are to kill all four people in that house except for Kudo. Again, I need him alive so that I can make him tell me where Sherry is. You've all got your silencers equipped on your guns, right?"

"I don't even have a gun," Moonshine said.

Gin sighed and handed Moonshine a gun with a silencer on it. "Take this."

"If the situation arises where we have to overpower them and kill them we should know what we're up against," Ale said. "There's four of them and three of us. Fortunately, 2 of them are young children, or at least they both have the bodies of children."

"Detective Mouri is moderately skilled with a gun and his reaction time is decent," Moonshine said. "However, he does not keep a gun with him because this is Japan, obviously. His firearm abilities would only threaten us if he manages to take one of our guns. The real threat is the 17 year old daughter. I've gone over some recent articles from the local newspaper and it turns out she has been ranked very high in local Karate tournaments. She's a definite threat should she wake up."

"Fair enough," Gin said. "Moonshine, since you're new at this you'll be given watch over Ran Mouri's room. If she gets out of bed you have my permission to shoot to kill. I'd prefer that you avoid doing so unless you are certain that she's awake, however. Be sure to stay a fairly good distance away from her bed so that you have room to react in the event that she wakes up. Also try to maintain a watch over the little girl so that she doesn't wake up an do something. If both the little girl and Ran Mouri wake up, you are to shoot Ran Mouri first and then the little girl. Ale, you'll keep your eye on Kogoro. If we wakes up, shoot him. I'll handle the kidnapping of Kudo."

"He'll definitely scream though," Ale said.

"No he won't," Gin said. "He won't want to endanger anyone else living there."

"How do you know?" Ale asked.

Gin grinned. "Because he's weak."

 **Scene Transition**

An hour passed. It was at last time for Gin, Ale, and Moonshine to carry out their break-in of the Mouri Residency and kidnapping of Shinichi Kudo.

They reached the front door. Gin unlocked the door within 40 seconds. Tiptoeing the three of them stepped inside the Mouri residency. As planned Moonshine took up his position at entrance to Ran's room. Gin and Ale passed by the spot on the floor where Haibara was fast asleep, completely oblivious that they were passing by the woman who Gin was going through all this trouble to find.

They entered Kogoro's and Conan's room. Kogoro was snoring loudly. Conan was also asleep and lying on his side. Because of this Ale was completely surprised whenever Gin tapped Conan Edogawa on the shoulder…

Conan became conscious. He felt someone's finger tapping his shoulder. He opened his eyes and turned his head.

Standing there was…

Gin.

Shinichi's eyes opened wide as he realized the situation. Gin was standing over his bedside. His attempts to hide in plain sight as 8 year old Conan Edogawa had kept him mostly safe for nearly a year. But now Gin had found him regardless. Gin had intentionally woken him up, meaning the purpose of their break-in was not to take action against uncle. It was intended for him. The Black Organization had come for him. Like a man who had sold his soul to the devil he could only hide from final judgment for so long, and it was foolish of him to think otherwise, especially considering the massive risks that he had taken in the past year. Here Gin was, with the complex of a god of death, holding a gun.

Conan knew; he couldn't fight them. Not here. The fact that they hadn't killed him yet meant they intended to take him elsewhere else before doing so. Perhaps they had some questions for him?

If so, he knew that his life would be prolonged for a little while longer. So he would go with them wherever they planned on taking him. Once the people who knew and cared about were out of firing range he would make his escape.

No, he thought. It will not suffice for me to simply run away this time. This time I have to capture or kill him. Gin must be defeated this time; failure to do so will mean certain death for me and Ran. There is no third option.

Sighing, Conan stood up. He raised his hands in the air. For the time being, he was a POW in this shadow war against the organization, a conflict waged by him, the FBI, the CIA, and to an extent his allies such as the Professor, Haibara, and Subaru Okiya.

But if I succeed in defeating Gin and getting back here before tomorrow morning, I can still prevent Ran from learning about this war, Conan thought.

Conan, Gin, Ale, and Moonshine walked through the main room of the residency, the three of them pointing their guns at Conan. Conan noticed that Haibara was still asleep on the floor, so those men hadn't noticed her. Or was she dead?

"Let me say my final goodbyes to Ran," Conan whispered. "I won't awaken her. Please."

"You will see her again one day in Heaven," Gin answered with a whisper. "Let's go."

No, Conan thought. If I assume that I will die tonight then I might as well just let them kill me. I am fighting to live so that I can be reunited with Ran on this earth. This battle will be my greatest test yet. And, if my plan works, my final test. My penance is coming to an end; one way or another I will not walk away the same as I was before…

 **Scene Transition**

Gin's black Porsche 356A arrived at the abandoned meat processing plant. Conan got out of the car and Ale, who was pointing a gun at him the whole time, followed. Gin stared intently at Conan.

"How does it feel knowing that this is your last day on earth, Kudo?" Gin asked.

"I wouldn't know," Conan said calmly. "So who are these people you brought with you? Hired muscle, perhaps?"

"The man pointing a gun at you is my brother, Ale," Gin said. "The other man is Moonshine. He was the one who discovered your secret identity. I must admit, I was shocked to learn that the drug I made you take shrunk you instead of killing you."

"Likewise, I'm surprised that you have a brother, Gin," Conan said. "I would've thought that after your mother saw your ugly face she'd think twice about having another child."

"We're twins, actually," Gin said, paying no heed to Kudo's insults. "Now, enough small talk. Let's cut straight to the heart of the issue."

"You still need me for something," Conan said. "That's why you haven't killed me yet."

"My, you are such a smart little boy," Gin confirmed. "There is in fact one more thing that I need from you before I kill you. Before we get to that let's step inside."

They led Conan to an empty room which had two ropes tied down by very heavy weights. The other ends of the ropes were tied to Conan's hands. Conan found that he was more or less shackled down and unable to move around. Also, the surgical mask was taken off him and thrown in a trash can.

"That's much better," Gin said. "Now, let's begin. I think you know what it is that I want from you."

"Sorry, but I don't have a clue," Conan said casually but defiantly.

"This one time I will ask you nicely," Gin said. "If you answer me honestly then I'll shoot you in the head. It'll be a quick and painless death. Where is Sherry?"

So that's what this is about, Conan thought. "Who?"

"Brother, do you want me to handle this next part?" Ale asked.

"No," Gin said. "I want to do this myself. You two can go watch TV in the other room for now. I hear that new gory show 'Defense on Olympian' will begin airing its latest episode in about 20 minutes."

With that Ale and Moonshine left the room, leaving Conan with Gin.

"During my time training to be an executor of the will of the Organization I learned many…interesting things," Gin said.

"Let me guess," Conan said. "Torture is one of those things."

"You catch on fast," Gin said. "If you do not tell me where Sherry is right now then I will turn whatever remains of your life into a living hell."

"I don't know who Sherry is," Conan answered.

Gin slammed his fist into Conan's face so hard that Conan was sent flying backwards. Or, at least, he would've been sent flying backwards had he not been kept in place by the ropes. Conan's head was throbbing with a sensation that felt worse than the time that he was forced to ingest APTX 4869. Conan put his hand on his head, but that did virtually nothing to help ease the pain.

"Wrong answer," Gin said. "Where is Sherry?"

"I don't know," Conan said.

Gin drove his fist into Conan's stomach. The wind was instantly knocked out of Conan. He began hacking and coughing. Then Gin drove his fist into Conan's stomach again. This time Conan coughed up blood.

"Tell me where Sherry is, you piece of filth!" Gin demanded.

Conan panted hard, but his normal flow of breathing was hindered by his coughing and wheezing. "I…told you, I…don't know where or who he…is."

So Gin hit Conan in the face again. This time in the jaw. Then he kicked Conan in the shin. Conan screamed weakly. He kicked Conan in the other shin. Conan fell to his knees. As soon as he did this Gin kicked him in the face.

This hurt the worst of all. In fact, Conan passed out.

 **Scene Transition**

With a splash of ice-cold water Conan came to.

" _Wakey_ _wakey_ ," Gin said. "You see, I can't let you experience the relief of unconsciousness. The only relief will come whenever you die. So once again, tell me where Sherry is or I will continue. This is your last chance to back out."

Conan rose to his feet slowly. "Oh won't you look at Gin. I suppose this is supposed to make you a big boy? Mommy's not around so you show the other little boys how big you are by beating a man, no, a kid, who can't fight back?"

Gin then slammed his knee into Conan's chin. He then slammed his fist once again into Conan's face.

"Go to hell," Conan said weakly.

Where are they? Conan thought. He was beginning to think that they weren't going to show. His trump card, the only thing that could save his life in this situation…

"We're already in hell," Gin said. "I am the Devil and only I have the power to decide your fate. God won't save you. Why? He doesn't exist. There is no heaven. There is no God. That thing I said about heaven earlier was a lie, like religious figures throughout human history have lied to maintain their position of power, renown, and wealth among the gullible and the feeble-minded."

"No…" Conan murmured.

"Do you want to know the truth?" Gin asked. "Every Jew in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany did in their final moments cry out to their God. My parents cried out to God too while they were being beaten to death by a bunch of young thugs. God will not save you! He has never saved anyone!"

Gin hit Conan in the face again.

"R-raan…" Conan said weakly.

"TELL ME where Sherry is!" Gin roared. "Tell me and this will all end!"

Conan was losing consciousness.

"You know, like all those billions of foolish people out there I too used to pray to God," Gin said. "I prayed that God would bring my parents back. I prayed that Kenshi and his gang would stop beating me and my brother. You know what I found out? Prayer doesn't work. It never works!"

He drove his fist into Conan's stomach again.

"Cry out to your God if you will! I relish the sound of another idiot crying out in vain to a fairy tale! See if God hears a word you're saying! See if God rescues you from your hell!"

He drove his fist into Conan's stomach again. That was enough to cause Conan to simultaneously lose consciousness and begin vomiting. That he didn't asphyxiate was in itself a borderline miracle.

 **Scene Transition**

Shinichi saw her face.

Ran, he thought.

It was the sleeping face of Ran. She was in her bed fast asleep. To Shinichi she was utterly beautiful.

"Ran," Shinichi said with a smile.

The image began to fade.

"No," Conan said. "No. Ran. No! Ran! Ran! RAAAAAAAAA…!"

 **Scene Transition**

Once again cold water splashed on Conan's face, forcing him back into torturous reality. He felt vomit hanging out of his mouth and on his shirt. Like an infant coughing up baby food.

"Shall we continue?" Gin asked, grabbing Conan by the hair. "Or will you finally tell me where Sherry is?"

Conan spitted a mixture of saliva, blood, and vomit onto Gin's face. Despite this act of defiance Conan was delirious. He was barely conscious even after having cold water splashed on his face.

"Since this isn't getting me anywhere I'm going to move on to more effective methods of torture now," Gin said. He pulled out a knife from his pocket and grinned…

 **Scene Transition**

Ran woke from her bed with a gasp.

Shinichi! She thought. She knew, somehow she knew…Shinichi was in serious danger. In her dream she could hear him calling out to her.

Still, that didn't seem rational at all. On what basis could she conclude that Shinichi was actually in danger? A dream? Did she really want to bother other people based on a wild hunch?

Suddenly Ran heard it: the sound of a siren passing through the streets below. She looked out her window; it was a long row of police cars one after the other.

Acting on a strange impulse, Ran…*ahem* ran to her father's and Conan's bedroom. She turned on the lights; Conan was not in his bed.

Groggily Kogoro got out of bed. "What are you…?"

"CONAN IS GONE!" Ran screamed.

Her scream was loud enough to wake Haibara. Haibara rushed into the room where Kogoro and Ran were. "What happened?"

"Conan-kun disappeared!" Ran exclaimed.

Haibara hurriedly dialed Conan's phone number and pressed "Send". A cell phone lying near Conan's bed began vibrating. "He left his phone here. I can't call him to ask where he is."

Kogoro rushed out of the room to check the whole house for Conan.

A thousand different possible scenarios crossed Ran's mind in that moment, all of them bad.

What should I do? She thought. What can I do?

But then she realized that there was something she could do.

Ran returned to her bedroom and began to dial a number. Then she hit "Send". Ten seconds later Jodie Starling answered the phone.

"Oh, Mouri-san! What is it?" Jodie asked.

"Jodie-sensei, where is Conan?" Ran asked. "You know what happened to him, don't you?"

The line was silent for several seconds.

"…He's being held at an abandoned meat processing plant 15 miles from where you live," Jodie said. "I'm on my way there now. The kidnappers consist of three extremely dangerous men and the rest is classified."

"Can you give me the address?" Ran asked impatiently.

"You wouldn't be planning on going there yourself, would you?" Jodie asked.

"At the very least I'd like to be out there waiting whenever Conan is rescued," Ran said. "I feel like I need to be there when the time comes."

Jodie sighed. "Okay, the address is as following…"

 **Scene Transition**

The torture had reached its peak. Conan had lacerations, bruises, and burn marks on various parts of his body and his right leg was broken; he hadn't previously understood what pain on this level was like; he could imagine it but it never felt real until it was actually real.

Gin himself was panting from the effort he put into torturing Conan. "Give it up, Kudo. Tell me where Sherry is."

By this point Conan couldn't even comprehend what Gin was saying. He softly muttered "Ran" over and over again; that was all his mind was capable of doing in this moment. That one thought had given him the strength to endure this so far. It was to him the only thing that made sense to him in an insane world.

"Raaann," Conan groaned, delirious.

"She's like an angel to you, isn't she?" Gin asked. "I don't know if you believe in God but I know you believe in angels. Or in that one angel, at the least. Ran Mouri is your angel. Do you want me to kill your angel? I will torture her, I will rape her, and then I will kill her. That fate I have planned for Sherry will be shared by Ran. Do you want that? Do you want Ran's death to be on your conscience? Do you think your God will forgive you for letting your angel die for the sake of a stranger? Tell me what I need to know and I will spare her life."

Within his scrambled, scattered collection of thoughts a pattern began to emerge: Sherry. Ai Haibara. If he gave up Haibara, wouldn't this all come to an end? Wouldn't Ran be safe from Gin if he handed over Haibara? Ran's safety; Shinichi felt that Ran's safety was paramount. It was the reason that he had never told her his identity. Watching her lying in bed at night crying for Shinichi was preferable to watching her lying in a coffin.

"Okay…Gin," Conan managed. "Sherry is…"

Suddenly Moonshine burst into the room. "Sirens! Police sirens! We've got to go now!"

Gin stood upright and faced Moonshine, his face pallid. "What?!"

 **Scene Transition**

Kogoro's car arrived at the abandoned meat processing plant; police cars were surrounding the building, about half of those police cars being foreign.

Ran, Kogoro, and Haibara got out of the car. Jodie approached them.

"Conan's in there?!" Ran and Haibara both demanded simultaneously.

"Yes," Jodie said. "We've informed the hostage takers that the building is surrounded and that they have five minutes to surrender peacefully before the building is stormed."

"How did you know?" Haibara asked Jodie.

"Let's talk in private," Jodie said to Haibara.

The two of them walked together away from Ran and Kogoro.

"Whenever Conan learned that Gin was in town he called the FBI and asked us to monitor the Mouri residency," Jodie explained. "Shui…I mean, uh, one of our agents in Tokyo installed some hidden cameras while nobody was home."

So that's what he meant when he said back then that he was going to make a phone call, Haibara realized. "So do you have confirmation that Gin is behind the kidnapping?"

"Yes," Jodie answered. "His face was seen on several of the hidden cameras. There were two other men with him; one is believed to be Gin's brother, former Organization member Ale. The other is believed to be Moonshine, a man who used to provide investigative services for the Organization."

Haibara had a deathly pale look on her face, something that Jodie noticed right away. "Don't worry, Ai-chan. We'll bring him back alive."

Then Jodie went to rejoin Ran and Kogoro. Haibara stood there, staring at the building. Despite Jodie Starling's words of encouragement Haibara knew that the chances of Conan making it out of that building alive were slim at best.

One thought began to replay Shiho Miyano's mind over and over again:

Will I never get another chance to tell him…?

 **Scene Transition**

Conan was hardly able to remember anything that happened afterwards. Gin, Ale, and Moonshine split up and made a run for it. A SWAT team stormed the building. A man in a mask holding an M4 carbine spotted him and undid his chains. He phased out of consciousness.

Whenever he came to a minute or two later he was being held in Ran's arms outside the building. He looked up at her smiling face stained with not yet dried tears.

"You gave us quite a scare," Ran said.

"R-ran-neechan…" Conan said. This sensation; he had felt it before. Many times when he was little but not at all since he grew up and not even after he had become Conan Edogawa. It was the sensation of a young child feeling warmth and content in its mother's arms.

As Ran carried Conan towards the car and towards Kogoro and Haibara he once again passed out.

 **Scene Transition**

Conan slowly began to become conscious. He heard the sound of a heart monitor.

As he began to open his eyes to the bright ceiling he heard the sound of someone saying "He's awake!"

That voice, Conan thought. Ayumi-chan?

Then he became fully alert; he was in a hospital. He turned his head so that he could look out the window. There was daylight shining from outside. Ran was asleep at Conan's bedside; presumably she had been there all night. Kogoro was sitting in a chair several feet away, snoring, a horse racing magazine in his lap.

All of Conan's classmates from his class in Teitan Primary School as well as his teacher Sumiko Kobayashi rushed into the relatively small hospital room. Ran and Kogoro then became awake. First among the oncoming wave of students was Mitsuhiko, Genta, Ayumi, and Haibara. At the back of the crowd was Sonoko, Dr. Agasa, Heiji, and Kazuha, the two of them having flown in from Osaka once they heard the news. At the very, very back of the crowd was Jodie Starling, Subaru Okiya, and James Black. Ayumi was holding a bouquet of flowers intended for Conan.

"What are all of you doing here?" Conan muttered. He looked at his watch; it was 11:09 AM, the Seventh day of the month.

"We were worried about you, of course!" Mitsuhiko said. "Look, all of your classmates came to visit you!"

"Yeah, Conan!" Genta said. "Who happened? Who did this to you? Tell me so I can beat him up with a Kamen Yaiba kick!"

Mirror, Conan thought. I need a mirror.

Ran handed Conan a mirror, her having anticipated that he'd want to see one once he woke up.

Conan could hardly believe it; his face was battered, bruised, and scarred. Then he remembered what happened. He remembered what Gin had done to him. Thinking about it filled him with a strange fear.

Yes, Haibara thought. He has finally learned it: that fear of the men in black. That fear which I learned to embrace long ago.

"You were kidnapped," Ran said. "Conan-kun, do you remember?"

"…Yeah," Conan said.

A doctor entered the room. "You all need to leave now. The patient has been through a lot and he needs time to rest."

Haibara handed him a Detective Boys badge and Ayumi handed him the flowers. Then everyone, including Ran and Kogoro, cleared the room.

Conan sighed and grabbed the Detective Boys badge. "Who is speaking?"

"This is me, the professor, Haibara, and the FBI," Heiji answered.

"Hey, Heiji," Conan said. "Can you give the badge over to the professor?"

Across the hall Dr. Agasa took the badge from Heiji. "Yes?"

"What happened?" Conan asked.

"Of the three men we were only able to capture one," Dr. Agasa explained. "The other two got away."

"Did you capture Gin?!" Conan asked, sitting up suddenly.

"No," Dr. Agasa answered. "It was Moonshine. Apparently Ran-kun used her karate to subdue him."

"Have the police announced Moonshine's capture yet?"

"No," Dr. Agasa answered. "I knew that you'd have the same idea as the one Ai-kun and I thought of, so I called the police using your voice and asked Megure to wait 48 hours."

"Good," Conan/Shinichi said. "Is my mother on a flight here from America?"

"Yes," Agasa said. "We can finally capture Gin and Ale. But only if you're up to it."

"Professor, you know I'm up to it," Conan said.

Then he hung up. Finally, he thought. Finally he would take the fight to the Organization. He would capture Gin and this victory would be the stepping stone to one day defeating the Black Organization and restoring himself to his normal body.

The plan did, of course, have one major drawback. Conan Edogawa would have to once again come face to face to Gin, the man whose face would haunt Conan's/Shinichi's dreams for years to come.

 **To Be Continued**

 **ENDING:**

( _Kimi to Yakusoku Shita Yasashii Ano Basho Made_ by La PomPon)

 _Kimi ga tetsuzen inakunaru yume wo saikin yoku miru no yo to_

 _Utsumuku watashi ni nanimo iwazu ni_

 _POKETTO no naka de tsuyoku te wo nigirishimeta kimi_

 _Iro wo kisoiaisaku hana you ni_

 _Monougena ame ni sae mo yori seno sugata ga kagayaku you ni_

 _Kimi to yakusoku shita yasashii ano basho made_

 _Ima wa mada futari otagaihashiritsudzuke you ne_

 _Kimi to azayakana iro ni naru seno toki made_

 _Aenai hibi ga iteshisa wo mashiteyuku yo seshite itsu no hi ni ka_

 _Kimi to yakusoku shita yasashii ano basho made_

 _Nigemichi wo fuyaseba yokei meiro ni hamaru yo ne_

 _Tatoe hyoushiki no nai michi ga tsudzuita toshitemo_

 _Shinjiau kimehi wo michishirube ni yuku yo yasashii ano basho made_


	3. Episode 3 (885)

(Note to reader: as Detective Conan was written by a Japanese person and takes place in Japan, it is assumed that all text within the story is Japanese translated to English for the reader's convenience except for italicized text, which whenever used indicates that what's written is the original, exact, untranslated version. Or, italicized text may be used to indicate a flashback sequence. This choice of italics usage can be useful whenever characters within this fanfic use English words or phrases or whenever the author wishes to use Japanese words in the Latin script, as in the Ending. Underlined text may indicate the title of a book, poem, etcetera but it is also used to indicate that certain text is part of the lyrics of the Opening and Ending songs that are generally associated with Detective Conan and anime in general. Boldened text may be used to indicate the episode's title, what day it is, what time of day it is, location, etc. All content may not be suitable for children; reader discretion advised. I obviously do not own the rights to the Detective Conan franchise; this work is called a "fanfic" for a reason. I plan on making this a four-parter series; this is part three. I did my best to write it as though it were a novelized version of a canon four-part episode arc from the anime series. In this case, the Birthday Surprise arc is meant to comprise episodes 883-886 of the anime series; at the time of writing there have been less than 810 episodes of the anime series made, not counting OVAs, movies, and other stuff like that. Enjoy!)

 **THE SEVENTH**

"What happened?" Conan asked.

"Of the three men we were only able to capture one," Dr. Agasa explained. "The other two got away."

"Did you capture Gin?!" Conan asked, sitting up suddenly.

"No," Dr. Agasa answered. "It was Moonshine. Apparently Ran-kun used her karate to subdue him."

"Have the police announced Moonshine's capture yet?"

"No," Dr. Agasa answered. "I knew that you'd have the same idea as the one Ai-kun and I thought of, so I called the police using your voice and asked Megure to wait 48 hours."

"Good," Conan/Shinichi said. "Is my mother on a flight here from America?"

"Yes," Dr. Agasa said. "We can finally capture Gin and Ale. But only if you're up to it."

"Professor, you know I'm up to it," Conan said.

"Your mother will be here in about 7 hours," Agasa said.

Conan ended the call, having received confirmation that the plan to capture Gin would be put into action within the next 48 hours.

For the time being he would rest; because the APTX antidote that Haibara was working on at this moment presumably had a 24 hour duration, and because he wanted to time it so that he'd still be Shinichi during Ran's birthday celebration, he figured it wouldn't do him any good to go over to the professor's house yet. Besides, he figured that he'd need to save his strength for that final showdown.

 **OPENING:**

Truth is the convergence of many facts into a beam of light that pierces the shadows!

In today's case the men in black finally show themselves! This presents both a great opportunity and a great danger!

With the body of a child but the brain of an adult, his name is DETECTIVE CONAN!

[ _SILVER BULLET_ by Egoist]

You wipe the blood off your hands, leave the body to the crows

Then you re-enter the crowd, having become a wolf among the lambs

You have made the devil's bargain, yet still you walk among the saints

You let out a sigh and you dare to believe that "nobody will ever know"

A child's cry, a sobbing promise to a dying loved one, words never forgotten

Years pass, his passion undiminished by time wasted and empty leads

He at last finds the golden key that opens the door to the closed case

In the middle of a night like any other, a thousand lights shine upon you!

As long as people continue to devise ways to hurt each other

We will remain faithful and vigilant soldiers in the war on crime

Remembering that oath I swore to protect and serve I draw my gun

In a moment of clarity and brilliance the _SILVER BULLET_ is fired!

 **A Birthday Surprise from the Black Organization: Part Three!**

"So what did Moonshine tell you people?" Heiji asked, standing out in the hospital hallway with Dr. Agasa, Haibara, Jodie Starling, Subaru Okiya/Shuichi Akai, and James Black.

James Black smirked. "You people, huh? To answer your question, Moonshine's real name is Mordecai Abramowicz, a Jewish-American who is 45 years old. He admitted to participating in the kidnapping of Conan Edogawa and he named his two accomplices as Gin and Ale. He said that ahead of time the three of them agreed that if the police were to arrive they were all to split up and lay low for about 36 hours before meeting up at a nearby abandoned cannery."

"So all we have to do then is wait until that scheduled time and then ambush them, correct?" Heiji said.

"Not quite," Jodie said. "Moonshine said that each of them would before showing up at the cannery circle around the building in disguise to make sure the police weren't waiting."

"Therefore the plan is to have Moonshine meet them at that place alone and then have him lead them to another place where the police will be waiting," Subaru Okiya/Shuichi Akai said. "Tropical Land, to be more precise. It's closed today and thus there will be no civilians caught in the crossfire if things turn ugly, as they probably will."

"That's fine and dandy," Heiji said. "But you're forgetting one thing: why would Moonshine agree to this? Wouldn't he take the opportunity to have the three of them make a run for it?"

"That's why we're not sending Moonshine," Haibara said. "Rather, we're sending someone who looks like him."

"I don't understand," Heiji said.

"Ai-kun is preparing an APTX Antidote for Conan," Dr. Agasa said. "Then we're going to have his mother, Yukiko Kudo, use her makeup artistry to make Shinichi look like Moonshine. He'll show up at the cannery alone and meet with Gin and Ale. Then he'll lead them into a police ambush."

Heiji nodded. "The time that the police arrived at the meat processing plant was 1:16 AM today. That's what I was told, anyway. Is that time correct?"

"Yes," Jodie said. "Therefore the meeting is scheduled for somewhere around 1:15 and 1:20 PM tomorrow."

"Well, I guess I'll be heading home to prepare the antidote," Haibara said.

"Okay," Dr. Agasa said. "I'll see you later."

 **Scene Transition**

Haibara proceeded to walk back to the professor's house by herself. That certain time period was on her mind, that time period in between whenever Ran woke her up announcing Conan was gone and whenever Conan was rescued from Gin's, Ale's, and Moonshine's hands. All Haibara could think about during that time was whether or not she would ever get another chance to tell Conan.

Now that Conan was no longer in their hands the odds of his survival increased significantly. Or at least that's what she wanted to think. However, she knew that Gin could at any time call the Boss of the Black Organization and inform him that Shinichi Kudo and Conan Edogawa were one and the same person. It was possible that Gin had already done so. However, Gin's earlier actions appeared to have been carried out behind the Organization's back, meaning that there was still hope that he hadn't. Provided that Gin was captured quickly the chance existed that Conan's cover wouldn't be blown yet. Conan's odds now were definitely better than they were ten hours ago in any case. For this reason Haibara felt that she didn't need to tell him now. As long as it was still probable that Conan Edogawa and Ai Haibara were going to live a long life she'd stick to the slow strategy. The strategy that she was pursuing in almost every other area of her current life.

Shiho Miyano had nothing. Even if by some miracle she were able to return to her adult body and be free from the Black Organization's targeting of her she would still have nothing. During her time spent in America she had developed no deep bonds with any other human being at her school. She was antisocial due to a combination of bullying brought on by her Asian features and a simple disinterest in interaction with other people. Shiho had immersed herself in the world of science, following in the footsteps of her parents by learning chemistry and biology so that she may be able to further the Organization's development of APTX 4869. She went through her school years like a phantom; if asked now about Shiho, her classmates would probably say that they hardly remembered her and that she tended to avoid people. Among the ranks of the black organization there was only one person who she could've perhaps considered a friend, and his current status was unknown to her.

It was hardly an exaggeration to state that Shiho Miyano's only friend on the planet was her older sister Akemi. And now Akemi was dead; Gin had killed her. Both parents were dead as well. Shiho thus had no remaining friends and/or loved ones. Also, she could no longer continue to pursue researching and developing APTX 4869; she could no longer tolerate it being used for evil purposes and since as far as she knew the de-aging effect was a rare side effect the drug would not likely be used for decent purposes. Her continued existence as Shiho would be void of anything which would grant it meaning; it'd be living solely for the sake of living.

On the other hand, since having become Ai Haibara she had made 4 good friends. Granted, 3 of them had both the bodies and minds of 7/8 year olds, but she didn't really care and she knew that with time they'd grow up and become fully suitable companions for her, especially after she had invested a decade of social interactions into their lives. She also knew that the professor cared about her wellbeing almost to the extent of a father caring for his daughter. Despite having to keep a constant eye out for the men in black she was actually happier as Ai Haibara than she had been as Shiho Miyano in a very long time. She was content now in a way that she had never been. She therefore saw no reason whatsoever to return to her former identity. Her new life as Haibara was Shiho's chance of gaining that humanity and normal development as a person which she never experienced before. This second life was a second chance to grow her soul which had failed to blossom the first time around. She was one of two people in human history who got this kind of second chance and she intended on making the most of it.

The best thing about her new life, however, was Conan Edogawa. From the day that she had met him she witnessed his remarkable intelligence, even for a 17/18 year old, firsthand. Forensics was a totally different field from chemistry and biology, but it was a science nevertheless. It could therefore be said that both Shiho Miyano and Shinichi Kudo were scientists. Both had IQs noticeably above the human average and these two people were the only known people on the planet who had been shrunk by APTX 4869 and were now living other lives as young children. Conan Edogawa was the only person who could understand Ai Haibara's experiences and Ai Haibara was the only person who could understand Conan Edogawa's experiences. The way she saw it the two of them were compatible in a way that very few people were and she could only describe her overall feelings for Shinichi/Conan as those of a young woman in love.

Haibara loved Conan with every fiber of her being (feelings she first recognized herself having about 3 months after she met Conan) and she found herself being strangely irritated in the presence of Ran, feelings which were only rivaled by feelings of affection for Ran brought on by the girl's resemblance to Akemi in both appearance and personality. Haibara knew that Conan's heart belonged to Ran and that this would be the case for many years. Haibara knew that Conan would continue to fight towards reunification with Ran as Shinichi until the day came that this was no longer an option (such as if Ran started dating someone else, if Ran married someone else, if Ran died, if Conan became ultimately unable to revert back to his normal body, and so on). Haibara's strategy was thus to play the waiting game. She would wait until being with Ran once again as Shinichi was no longer an option for Conan. Then she would wait until he realized the futility of holding onto hope and opened his heart up to the possibility of loving someone else. Then she would be there, having been by his side for years and years, and she hoped that Conan would then finally come to love her (it was highly unlikely that Conan would fall in love with Ayumi even after she had grown up), by this point both of them having reached their former ages anyway.

And then, she thought, my life will be complete.

Her plan hinged upon Conan ultimately failing to return to defeat the Black Organization and becoming Shinichi again before it was too late. Despite this she knew that she wouldn't be able to forgive herself (and neither would Conan) if she intentionally sabotaged Conan's efforts in order to further this end. Nor could she bring herself to do anything that would endanger Ran's life. So, she decided that she would help Conan to the best of her ability (other than stuff like agreeing to harebrained schemes such as using her adult self as bait, a plan which would most likely just get her killed anyway) and help keep Ran safe while taking a gamble that Conan would fail regardless. She felt that the odds were probably in her favor anyway.

So as Haibara began mixing various chemical in the professor's kitchen to synthesize a 24 hour APTX antidote she felt a kind of fear which was different than the fear which she experienced in the presence of Gin. It wasn't a fear of physical death. Rather, it was the fear that her chance at a life with Conan would be destroyed whenever Conan defeated the Organization and managed to acquire a permanent antidote, allowing him to once again and forever more be with Ran as his normal self. Even worse would be if after this permanent antidote was acquired Haibara was made to drink it, bringing her back to a permanent state of empty existence as Shiho Miyano. Even if it wasn't forced she'd be expected to ingest it and her only way out then would be to tell the truth about how she felt, something she really didn't want to do. In any case she considered the combination of losing Conan and becoming Shiho again to be roughly equivalent to physical death, so perhaps the difference between those two kinds of fear was an illusion.

Haibara knew that even if Conan captured Gin it wouldn't result in his restoration as Shinichi overnight. It'd be weeks, even months (or possibly even years), provided that he was ever restored at all. But she knew that now a chance existed for her to lose everything. And the way that this realization made her feel wasn't pleasant at all.

 **Scene Transition**

Conan opened his eyes again and looked at his watch. It was now 2:56 PM. In the past few hours he had gotten numerous calls from various people he knew who wanted to check up on him. Ran had given him a call, as had Officer Takagi, Kobayashi-sensei, Detective Sato, Yumi-san, Detective Chiba, Tomoaki Araide, Eisuke Hondou, his father Yusaku, and even Yoko Okino (how she even knew his phone number was a mystery in itself). It had been quite a chore responding to all these people.

And they say that I'm resting right now, Conan thought with a deadpan look. For good measure he decided that he'd tell Ran Shinichi had given him a call as well.

The call from Eisuke had been especially awkward; after Conan clicked "Answer" it took him a good 30 seconds to remember whose voice was talking from the other end and to realize that the person speaking was not a teenage girl.

 _The most notable of these calls, however, was the one from his father._

 _His father had been sitting in a well-known burger restaurant in New York City and it had been about an hour since he left a convention where he had spent more than three hours signing copies of his novels for mostly overweight and sweaty white people who all looked the same. He didn't really mind; he always found it encouraging to see how many people admired and appreciated his literary works. He noticed that his American fans especially asked for him to sign copies of his book Death is Not Twice Cheated from the Night Baron book series. He found that odd because in Japan that particular novel wasn't well-received compared with other books in the Night Baron series. So he had been sitting in the burger restaurant with a copy of the American edition of his book, reading it and being shocked at how much the American publishing company had changed the story when they translated it into English._

 _After waiting for about 6 seconds he finally heard Shinichi reply._

 _"Yes, dad?" Shinichi/Conan answered._

 _"Hey, Shinichi," Yusaku said. "When I heard that you had been captured and tortured by Gin I wanted to call then but I heard that you were asleep. I just received word now that you had woken up. How are you?"_

 _"My right leg is broken and I've got several other wounds," Shinichi/Conan said. "Those injuries will heal with time."_

 _Yusaku nodded. "Unfortunately, the one wound which will probably never heal is your memories of last night and the horrors you endured. Such trauma isn't something you just forget; the emotional scars will be with you for the rest of your life."_

 _"I'm fine, dad," Shinichi/Conan said. "Anyway, how can you say all this so confidently?"_

 _"When I was around your age I went through something quite similar to what you went through last night," Yusaku said. "I'll just leave it at that. Anyway, did I hear right when your mother told me that you planned on disguising yourself as a member of the Organization to capture Gin?"_

 _All your love I had and all was cast away…_

 _"Yeah," Shinichi/Conan said. "You're not in a public place, are you?"_

 _"Why would you say that?" Yusaku asked, wanting to hear yet another one of his son's deductions._

 _Won't forget, I'll focus hard to untangle this mystery…_

 _"There's music playing in the background," Shinichi/Conan said. "English music coming from a TV of some sort. You're either in your hotel room or in a public place such as a restaurant."_

 _Yusaku nodded. "How observant, Shinichi. I'm at a burger place right now. The music is the second opening to an old cartoon series called Case Closed."_

 _Looking back on then even now brings tears that won't cease…_

 _"You wouldn't believe it," Yusasku continued. "The show was about a high school detective named Jimmy Kudo who witnessed a criminal transaction, was caught by the criminals, and was given a drug that was supposed to kill him but rather shrunk him into a 7 year old. To hide from those men he had to live with his childhood friend Rachel and her bumbling detective father Richard, Jimmy using Richard's identity to solve a new case every episode."_

 _Simple wounded heart it always longs for you..._

 _"Whoa," Shinichi/Conan said. "That's almost enough to make me believe that my whole life is just an anime series. Tell me more about this show. How did it end?"_

 _Even now, I'm gonna send you a postcard..._

 _"Sadly it was cancelled after just 130 episodes," Yusaku said. "It's an American adaptation of an old but ongoing Japanese anime series, and if they started back up now it wouldn't go well."_

 _"Why not?" Shinichi/Conan asked._

 _"Well, the first episode of the original Japanese show aired in 1996," Yusaku explained. "When Episode 130 had aired it was still the middle of the late 1990s. So Episode 131 of Case Closed, provided that they renewed it now, would have the animation quality of a cartoon which aired in 1998 or 1999. Case Closed originally aired around 2004 when the difference in animation quality between the cartoons of 1996 and the cartoons which were at the time current was less pronounced; today that difference in animation quality would be huge and a lot of American fans would be turned off by how utterly dated it looked. Also, since over 10 years have passed since then they'd likely have to find new voice actors for all the original characters and so the transition from episode 130 to episode 131 wouldn't go well. So I think it's fair to say that Case Closed will never be renewed. If American fans want more Case Closed then they'll have to watch subbed versions of the original Japanese series."_

 _Shinichi/Conan nodded. "That's a shame. Anyhow, about you being in a public place while talking about the men in black…"_

 _"Don't worry about that," Yusaku said. "Where I'm sitting right now is mostly out of earshot and probably nobody in this restaurant can understand Japanese anyway. Also, other than Chris Vineyard it isn't confirmed that the Black Organization has any operatives in America. Well, I just called to check up on you. You be safe, you hear me?"_

 _"Yes, dad," Shinichi/Conan said. "I will. Goodbye."_

Conan sighed. He knew that what he was soon to do was incredibly dangerous. If his disguise slipped at any moment during the encounter they would kill him on the spot; his stun-gun wristwatch could at best only work against one of the two men. Even if he borrowed Haibara's new stun-gun wristwatch he probably couldn't tranquilize both of them. He also remembered that one time when Gin shot himself to null the effects of a tranquilizer dart…

 **Scene Transition**

 **8:15 PM**

Conan had insisted on going back home so he was given a cast and some crutches along with some further instructions and then Kogoro was called to come get him.

At last Conan arrived back at the Mouri Residency.

Funny how I've come to think of this place as being home, he thought. Kogoro had helped him up the stairs. Come to think of it, Kogoro had been strangely nice to him during the trip home.

"Welcome home, Conan-kun," Ran said, coming out from the kitchen when she heard the door open. "I've fixed your favorite meal."

"Thanks, Ran-neechan!" Conan said cheerfully. "I haven't eaten anything all day!"

 **Scene Transition**

They sat down at the table to eat.

"So, Conan," Kogoro said. "Do you know anything about those men who kidnapped you?"

"Nope," Conan lied. "I have no idea who they are or what they wanted with me. They just kept demanding that I tell them where 'the letter' was. I didn't know what they were talking about but they tried to torture the information out of me anyway."

"Jodie-sensei said they're connected to that woman who attacked Ai-chan and Conan-kun," Ran said.

"That's so, huh?" Kogoro remarked.

Uncle's more out of the loop than Ran, Conan realized. Despite all that time and effort invested into making Kogoro a world-famous detective, Kogoro had been given access to virtually no information related to the Black Organization and he had been a part of very few cases related to the Black Organization. Had the strategy which Conan pursued tirelessly for the past year been in vain?

"I haven't had any beer to drink in over 24 hours," Kogoro realized. "Maybe I should go to the store and get some?"

This conversation feels so familiar, Conan thought with a deadpan look. "But uncle, Ran-neechan's birthday party is in less than 24 hours! Don't you think you should wait?"

Kogoro sighed. "I suppose that another 24 hours without it won't kill me. Now you sound like that 90s-haired brat, geez."

Conan finished off the rest of his meal. "Can I go to the professor's house to play video games?"

"But Conan-kun, your leg!" Ran protested.

"It's okay," Conan said. "I think I've got the hang of these crutches now."

 **Scene Transition**

Despite having said this it took quite some effort for Conan to make it to Dr. Agasa's house. He was out of breath by the time he arrived at the front door. He knocked on the door; four seconds later Haibara opened the door for him.

"Is the antidote ready?" Conan asked.

"Yes," Haibara said. "Also, your mother and the FBI are here."

Conan stepped inside and Haibara closed the door behind him.

With Haibara's help Conan went upstairs to the room where Dr. Agasa, the FBI, and Heiji were going over camera footage of Gin standing inside a phone box making a call to somebody.

"We've been trying to eavesdrop on his phone calls which is why he prefers to use random pay phones scattered across Japan," Subaru/Shuichi said.

Conan coughed and everyone in the room turned around to see Conan standing there.

"Oh, it's Shinichi," Dr. Agasa said. "Sorry, I forgot that your leg was broken. Me and the FBI officers were just going over Gin's known activities so we can find out what his motivation was."

"There is no need for that," Conan said. "Gin knows of two loose ends which could threaten the Black Organization. That would be me and Haibara. Somehow he figured out who I was. Then he kidnapped me and tortured me to get me to tell him Sherry's identity and location."

Haibara looked at him with a ghostly pale look. "Did you tell him?!"

"No," Conan said. He didn't have the heart to tell her that he had been on the verge of telling Gin when the FBI showed up.

"Moonshine was how Gin figured out your identity," Jodie said. "Moonshine used to be a private investigator in _Seattle_ , _Washington_ until 9 years ago, whenever he presumably received and accepted an offer to investigate threats to the Black Organization in exchange for a very lucrative salary. It was then when he moved to Japan."

"Haibara, whenever the Organization first investigated me after my presumed death did you hear anything about Moonshine being deployed to investigate?" Conan asked.

"No," Haibara said. "Moonshine was forced to flee the Organization 3 years ago whenever his faulty Intel led to the capture of five of their agents. It was the worst setback that the Organization had experienced in over a decade."

"So if Gin's working with Moonshine, then…" Dr. Agasa began.

"Gin must be working behind the Organization's back," Heiji finished.

"I've finished the cookies!"

Conan turned around suddenly. Standing there was his mother, Yukiko Kudo, holding a tray of freshly baked cookies.

"Shin-chan!" she said, putting down the tray on the table and embracing her son, lifting him in the air in the process. "There, there, Mama's here; where did those men hurt you at?"

Conan was grimacing and squirming the whole time and Haibara couldn't help but to giggle softly. Meanwhile, Dr. Agasa reached for a cookie.

After his mother put him down Conan asked "You're only here to help me with my disguise, right?"

"What, a mother can't simply wish to be with her son?" Yukiko asked with mock indignation, though Conan knew she was just teasing him.

James Black coughed as to draw attention to himself and to steer the conversation back towards more pressing matters. "Miyano-kun, would you be so kind as to retrieve the 24-hour antidote and bring it here so that Kudo-kun may take it?"

Haibara nodded and ran down the stairs. Conan look at his watch; the time was 9:44 PM. After taking the antidote he'd have until around 9:30 PM on the night of the Eighth before he reverted back to being Conan Edogawa. The meeting with Gin would take place around 1:20 PM and Ran's birthday party would begin around 3:40 PM. Provided that nothing went wrong, tomorrow he'd defeat Gin and show up right on time for Ran's 18th birthday party. It'd be the best birthday gift he could give her.

"Oh, professor, could you reload my wristwatch?" Conan asked. "I might need it during the confrontation."

Dr. Agasa nodded, taking the wristwatch from Conan.

Haibara came back upstairs holding the small capsule in her hand. She handed it to Conan and then ran back down the stairs.

Conan took a good look at the pill in his hand. He hesitated for about 15 seconds before saying "Well, here goes" and then popping the pill in his mouth.

"Will you need water with that?" Dr. Agasa asked.

Conan swallowed. "No, I already swallowed it. It should take effect in…"

His heart began pounding in his chest. His head became really hot. "It's starting."

"He's going to have to strip before he grows so that he doesn't shred his current clothes," Dr. Agasa said. "We should probably give him some privacy."

Haibara ran back up with a change of clothes for Shinichi/Conan. She set it down on the floor at his feet. Then everyone left the room and Dr. Agasa closed the door, leaving Shinichi/Conan to transform in private.

 **Scene Transition**

 **9:55 PM**

Dr. Agasa, Haibara, Heiji, Yukiko, and the three FBI agents sat in the Living Room discussing how the ambush was going to be set up.

He limped his way to the foot of the stairs, wearing spare clothes from his closet in the Kudo Residence. He was no longer wearing a surgical mask despite the fact that he was still sick.

"Oh, Shinichi!" Dr. Agasa said.

Shinichi Kudo looked down at Agasa, Haibara, Heiji, his mother, and the FBI. "Hey guys. How do I look?"

"My Shin-chan looks so handsome all grown up!" Yukiko exclaimed.

Heiji ran up the stairs and helped Shinichi walk down.

"You're still wearing the glasses," Subaru/Shuichi observed.

Realizing that he was in fact still wearing his fake glasses Shinichi took them off.

He handed them to Haibara. "Here, Conan. For the next 24 hours you're going to need them a lot more than I will."

"Conan?" Haibara repeated.

"Sure," Shinichi said. "Conan Edogawa doesn't exist; he's a persona that anybody with the body of a 7/8/9 year old can take on. So for the next 24 hours you'll be Conan just like I was for this past year. A less convincing Conan but nonetheless one who's adequate for the job."

"Kudo-kun's costume won't be applied until about one hour before the confrontation with Gin," James Black said. "However, it's probably a good idea for him and his mother to practice a few times ahead of time so that there are no complications when the time comes. We've provided Yukiko-san with some mugshots of Moonshine for her to go by; luckily the height of Shinichi Kudo and Moonshine are identical. Also, he should set his voice-changing bowtie to meet Moonshine's specifications. Jodie has a recording of his voice on her phone."

"Yeah," Shinichi said. "There's one problem though. What will Gin and Ale think when they see me with a broken leg? What will Ran think?"

"I've got something which will solve that problem," Dr. Agasa said, standing up. "If you'll wait here for a minute…"

Dr. Agasa stepped out of the Living Room.

"Heiji," Shinichi said. "If a situation arises which would make me unable to attend Ran's birthday party, will you…?"

"I can't," Heiji said. "Kazuha will be there; you know how she managed to immediately tell who I was last time."

"You do realize that during that incident you literally just applied white powder to your face, right?" Shinichi said. "My mom can make you actually look like me if the need were to arise, just like she did immediately prior to the ghost ship party case."

"I'll be ready then," Heiji said. "Of course, it's not as though you're actually going to lose to that creep Gin."

Dr. Agasa came back from the other room.

"Professor, what the heck is that thing?" Shinichi asked.

"It's my latest invention," Dr. Agasa said proudly. "I call it the Power Brace. It's a powered exoskeleton and I designed it for medical uses; for instance, if your leg is broken you can strap the Power Brace to that leg. It takes two or three minutes of practice to master, but once you get the hang of it you'll be walking so well that it'll be like your leg isn't broken. I designed it so that it can be worn under your pants so that nobody knows you're using it."

Shinichi smiled. The Professor never let him down. "So you're saying that using this thing Gin and Ran won't even know my leg's broken?"

Then he sneezed.

"Exactly," Dr. Agasa said. "It does have a catch, though."

"Let me guess: short battery life?" Heiji said.

Dr. Agasa nodded. "Fully charged it's only got about 2 hours of power. However, it can also run on batteries. I'll let you have some batteries to get you through tomorrow, but it'll still be a good idea to conserve power whenever you can. For tonight you should practice using it."

Shinichi turned to his mother. "Mom, we'll practice my costume later. Right now you need to do Haibara and make her look like me, er, Conan so that she can get to Ran's house quickly and fill in for me."

Yukiko nodded and she and Haibara got up and went to another room to do Haibara's disguise.

Suddenly the doorbell rang.

"Oh, that must be Mitsuhiko, Ayumi, and Genta," Dr. Agasa said. "School's out tomorrow so their parents are okay with them staying here overnight. I completely forgot to be honest."

"For the night?!" Shinichi exclaimed. "Can't you send them home?"

"But wouldn't that look suspicious?" Dr. Agasa pointed out.

"Well, we should probably leave now," James Black said. "We'll use the back exit. Kudo-kun, for now just sit on the couch and act natural."

With that the FBI agents and Heiji left.

Dr. Agasa opened the door for Mitsuhiko, Ayumi, and Genta. "Hey there. Come right in."

Mitsuhiko, Ayumi, and Genta entered Dr. Agasa's home. They noticed Shinichi sitting on the couch.

It was as though suddenly all the life had been sucked out of the room; unlike Ran, Shinichi was a stranger to the three of them and they felt uncomfortable with him being here.

"Hi," Shinichi said with a nervous grin, sitting on the couch. "What's your names?"

"Wait, you're that guy who lives in that abandoned house!" Genta realized. "Ran-san's boyfriend, right?"

"Actually, Subaru-san lives there now," Shinichi said. "Subaru Okiya. You all know him, right? He told me all about you guys."

"So you know him?" Mitsuhiko asked, a little less uncomfortable now.

"Of course," Shinichi said. "Why would I let a total stranger live in my house?"

"Speaking of total strangers, what are you doing at the Professor's house?!" Genta demanded.

"Shinichi is no stranger to me," Dr. Agasa said reassuringly. "He and his parents have been friends of mine for a long time. When he was your age he even helped me test some of my inventions."

"Oh," Mitsuhiko said. "In that case my name is Mitsuhiko."

"I'm Genta."

"And I'm Ayumi. Nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too," Shinichi said despite having spent nearly every school day with them for the past year. "I'm Shinichi Kudo."

"Hey professor, where's Haibara-san?" Mitsuhiko asked.

"She's, uh, not here right now," Dr. Agasa lied awkwardly. "She's at a friend's house."

"Wait: Haibara-san has friends other than us?" Genta asked, confused.

At that moment Haibara emerged from the other room, looking like Conan and wearing a voice-changing mask which looked like a typical surgical mask. This mask had been worn by Haibara on more than one occasion when filling in for Conan and even Conan had worn this mask once while masquerading as Haibara during a botched attempt to expose and capture Vermouth.

Good times, Shinichi thought. However, it was inaccurate, Shinichi felt, to think of her current identity as being that of Haibara; that person was, just like Conan, only a persona which could be used by anyone who met the proper bodily specifications and could be discarded at a moment's notice. At this moment she was Conan, the person "beneath the mask" being Shiho.

"Conan-kun, when did you get here?" Ayumi asked.

"Hey Conan, while you're here do you want to play with us?" Mitsuhiko asked.

"No thanks," Shiho/Conan said boredly. "I'm going home now. Goodbye."

You could tone your usual personality down a bit, Shinichi thought with a deadpan look on his face.

Yukiko also emerged from the other room.

"Hey Conan, what's your mom doing here?" Genta asked.

Shinichi laughed nervously. "This is my mom, not Conan's. He has an entirely different mom. Yup."

Shiho/Conan shot him a look as to say "Wow, so subtle."

"I've got some cookies upstairs," Dr. Agasa said. "Let's go have some."

With that the three children and Dr. Agasa headed upstairs and Shiho/Conan headed to Ran's house.

"These three kids are going to stay here for the night as well," Shinichi said to his mother.

"This was certainly unexpected," Yukiko said. "I thought we would've had the whole night here to ourselves to prepare for tomorrow."

"We can still prepare with them being here," Shinichi said. "But we'll have to be careful about it. Those three are exceptionally bright for their age. Especially Mitsuhiko; that is, the skinny boy. If they see me with a broken leg they might suspect that I'm Conan."

"In that case you should probably practice using the Power Brace right now so you can walk around the house tonight without drawing their suspicion," Yukiko said.

Shinichi nodded and rolled up his pant sleeve. He put the Power Brace over his right leg, turned it on, and then rolled his pant sleeve back down.

It did indeed take him a minute to get used to the Power Brace but then he was able to walk around the house almost like he normally would. He felt confident that people probably wouldn't notice the slight limp in his right leg that even the Power Brace couldn't totally eliminate.

Afterwards Shinichi and Yukiko went to the back room to practice doing Shinichi's disguise. Whenever that was done and Shinichi had removed the disguise he retired to another room for the night, taking a video recorder with him…

 **Scene Transition**

 **THE EIGHTH**

 **8:10 AM**

After waking up and putting on the Power Brace (which had been charging all night) Shinichi walked into the kitchen. Dr. Agasa, Yukiko, Mitsuhiko, Genta, and Ayumi were eating pancakes.

"Good morning Shinichi," Yukiko said.

"Morning," Shinichi said. "Well, today's the day."

"Today's the day for what?" Mitsuhiko asked.

Shinichi winced; he had totally forgotten that those three were here.

"The day that Ran turns 18, of course," Yukiko chimed in.

"Oh yeah, it is Ran-oneesan's birthday today, isn't it?" Ayumi asked.

Genta sighed, exhausted. "I can't wait until Gyadorin Episode 3 comes out. Only 35 more days…"

"36," Mitsuhiko corrected, also exhausted. Of the three only Ayumi had any energy.

"Let me guess, Mitsuhiko-kun and Genta-kun stayed up all night playing Gyadorin Episode 2?" Shinichi asked.

"Yeah," Mitsuhiko confirmed. "Hey Shinichi-san, has anyone ever told you that you look and act a lot like Conan?"

"That's because Conan's my relative," Shinichi said, this time confident and not taken off-guard. "We talk on the phone a lot and the kid kind of looks up to me."

"So the reason he knows so much and is so good at solving mysteries is because he spends a lot of time with you and learns from you," Mitsuhiko said. "You are a High School Detective after all. I wish I had that kind of advantage…"

"I can give you my phone number if you want," Shinichi said. "You'll be able to call me anytime you want. I can't guarantee that I'll always answer though."

Mitsuhiko perked up suddenly. "Really? You mean it?"

"Sure," Shinichi said. He gave Mitsuhiko his phone number, Mitsuhiko eagerly writing down the number in the notebook which he took everywhere with him.

Mitsuhiko, Shinichi thought. One day you'll be a greater detective than I ever was. I hope that I live to see that day.

He watched the three of them eat, a sad smile on his face. This last year hadn't really been so bad; after all, he got to be friends with the three of them. Despite the fact that he was a good ten years older than them, they really didn't make such bad pals. His key objective since day one of his life as Conan Edogawa was finding and defeating the Black Organization, acquiring an APTX 4869 permanent antidote, return to his normal life as Shinichi, and be with Ran once more as Shinichi. This was still his key objective, but now he had to admit that in achieving this he would have to give something up, namely their friendship, and suffice with simply watching Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya, Ayumi Yoshida, and Genta Kojima grow up.

I want to see what you three will one day grow up to become, he thought. That's one more reason why I can't die yet.

Then he sneezed.

 **Scene Transition**

 **1:08 PM**

The car drove up near the abandoned cannery. Shinichi, who now looked just like Moonshine, opened the door to the car to get out.

"Mom, there's one last thing," he said. He handed her a flashdrive.

"What's this?" Yukiko asked.

"This contains 24 recordings of me speaking, each recording intended for a specific person to hear," Shinichi said. "If I die here then consider the recordings contained on this to be my last words. Each recording has the name of the intended recipient on it, as well as the priority of the message."

"Priority?"

"That is, who is to get their message in what order," Shinichi said. "The file with '01' on it is to be delivered first. The file with '02' on it is to be delivered second. And so on. If I die then I entrust to you the task of delivering these messages."

"I won't need to," she said. "Because you…you…"

She burst into tears. "Don't die, Shinichi!" She wrapped her arms around her son.

"I won't, mom," he said coldly. "Please let go of me now so that I can do what I have to do."

After a good ten seconds she let go of him. He got out of the car and closed the door. The car then began to drive away, leaving Shinichi/Moonshine at the cannery by himself.

 **Scene Transition**

There's no turning back now, Shinichi/Moonshine thought. Either I defeat Gin today or I die. If I fail to defeat him the best I can hope for is to run away and for those men to never find me. The situation may even arise where I have to kill Gin. To take a human life…if I were to do this would I be any better than him?

He rested the back of his head, his neck, and his back against the wall and sat down. He then waited, reflecting on his life and contemplating the possibility that it were to end today. Was Gin right? Was there really no God? If so, what would happen when he died? Would he simply cease to exist and return to the dust?

He shook his head. If I think like that there's no way that I'll be able to go through with this, he thought.

Then he heard the sound of a car driving up. By the way that the car sounded he could tell even before he saw it that it was a Porsche 356A. Gin was here; the time for self-examination was over.

Seconds later a strange scented bombarded Shinichi's nostrils. It was a very unique, odd scent; he had never smelled it before. It certainly wasn't perfume, cologne, or deodorant. This must've been that scent which Haibara was talking about, that scent which all members of the Black Organization let off.

How could I have never smelled it before? Shinichi thought. I was on the bus with Haibara whenever she picked up that scent coming from Araide/Vermouth. How come I couldn't smell anything then? How come I couldn't smell it all those other times? Why now?

The scent wasn't like anything he had ever smelled before. And that scent evoked a certain emotion in Shinichi's brain: fear. Sudden and overwhelming fear. He had never been this scared before.

I have to get away from here right now, he thought. RIGHT NOW! RUN! RUN!

Gin was getting closer. Someone else was with him; it wasn't Ale. Rather, it was Vodka. Gin and Vodka, just like the first time he encountered them.

That primal instinct was getting stronger. He knew that he was going to run; the question was how long could he hold himself back. Shinichi/Moonshine rose to his feet, preparing to run.

Then he felt a vibration in his pocket. Needing a distraction (anything would do) he took out his phone and read the message.

Haibara?

The message read as following:

"You can smell it now, can't you? The scent of the Black Organization. At this moment you must be feeling an irresistible urge to run away as fast as you can. I have almost always succumbed to this urge. However, this time you do not have that luxury. You must resist everything that your brain is telling you and you must stand to face Gin. If you run away then you, Ran, and I are all dead and the Black Organization will have won. Fight or die; a true detective operating under these conditions will be at his best, not his worst. Are you a true detective, Kudo-kun?"

Putting his phone back in his pocket Shinichi smiled. Those words were just what he needed to find the strength to not run away. He took a step forward. Then another. Two seconds later he was standing face to face with Gin.

"So where did you hide for the past 36 hours?" Gin asked.

"Inside the cannery," Shinichi/Moonshine said using the voice-changing device commonly used by Shuichi, growing more confident with every word. "It had running water for me to drink, a bathroom, and even a shower. The only downside is that I haven't eaten in 36 hours."

"I've got some crackers in my car," Gin said. "Don't want you being too weak during our next try."

"So where's Ale?" Shinichi/Moonshine asked.

"He insisted on going home," Gin said with disdain in his voice. "I never realized he was such a coward. My own brother. Anyway, this is Vodka."

"So I take it you've told the Boss about Kudo?" Moonshine asked.

"That is _none of your beeswax_ ," Vodka said.

Am I supposed to be impressed that you know an English saying? Shinichi thought but without the outward deadpan look this time.

Shinichi/Moonshine sneezed twice.

"You're sick," Gin noticed.

"It was cold inside that cannery," Shinichi/Moonshine explained. "Anyway, that's not important. Two hours ago I went out and kidnapped Kudo."

"In broad daylight?!" Vodka demanded.

"It's fine," Shinichi/Moonshine said reassuringly. "Nobody saw me. I wanted to get this job over with as quickly as I could so I decided to take a risk."

"I suppose you're not a total wuss after all," Gin said. "Okay so…where are you holding him?"

"Tropical Land," Shinichi/Moonshine answered. "It's closed today so I figured it was a good place to stash him for a little while."

"Tropical Land, huh?" Gin said. "That's a really fitting place to kill him at considering that the very first time I tried was there. I'll finish at Tropical Land what I started at Tropical Land."

So far so good, Shinichi thought. It doesn't appear that they're suspicious of me yet.

 **Scene Transition**

It took them about 20 minutes to get to Tropical Land taking Gin's car. It was the longest 20 minutes in Shinichi's life; he knew that he was sitting in a car with his two mortal enemies and that at any moment they could've killed him. Every second in that car was a chance for some part of his disguise to slip. If they even suspected that he wasn't Moonshine then they'd put him six feet after arriving at Tropical Land. Even if they didn't suspect, it might've been their intention all along to kill Moonshine once the job was done.

The car was parked in an alleyway; Shinichi recognized this alleyway as being near the place where he first witnessed their illegal transaction with that shady-looking businessman. They got out of the car.

"So where is he?" Gin asked.

"I managed to put him on the highest car of the Ferris Wheel," Shinichi/Moonshine said.

So the three of them walked towards the Ferris Wheel. FBI agents were hiding behind a snack vendor's stall, in the house of mirrors, and so on. Shuichi Akai was in a sniper position on the top of some other ride.

"He's up there?" Gin asked, pointing to the top of the Ferris Wheel.

"Yeah," Shinichi/Moonshine said.

"It's finally time," Gin said. "He was so close to telling me when the FBI showed up; this time he'll talk for sure."

Shinichi turned off his voice-changing device and aimed his stun-gun wristwatch at Gin. "Wrong, Gin. You're the one who's going to talk."

Gin turned around just in time to see Shinichi fire the wristwatch; the dart hit its mark on Gin's neck.

"NOW!" Shinichi shouted. At once seven FBI officers emerged from hiding and converged on Gin and Vodka's position.

" _Aniki_ , what do we do?!" Vodka asked, in desperate need of Gin's quick thinking.

Gin, who now had a tranquilizing substance circulating through his bloodstream, was on the verge of collapsing. In a desperate move he shot himself on the shoulder, instantly making him alert.

"RUN!" Gin shouted to Vodka. "Every man for himself!"

Gin fired a bullet in the direction of some FBI agents, forcing them to get down and allowing him to run past them.

"Stop or we'll open fire!" Jodie commanded. In response Gin just turned around and shot at her, hitting her in the heart. Shuichi, who had a clean shot at Gin, instead rushed to help Jodie.

Vodka, meanwhile, was captured in a matter of seconds. Knowing that Gin was getting away, Shinichi ran after him. Well, it was more like a fast walk due to the Power Brace's limitations.

Fortunately for Shinichi, he had superior knowledge of the park's layout and he took a shortcut which got him to where Gin's car was before Gin could get there. He saw a large, heavy stick and he picked it up, hiding behind the corner which Gin was about to pass by. Sure enough Gin came by, out of breath.

Shinichi raised the stick above his head and drove it into Gin's head, knocking the Black Organization agent out. Within seconds the FBI agents arrived to put Gin in handcuffs.

 **Scene Transition**

 **2:45 PM**

Shinichi sat in Dr. Agasa's Living Room, his Moonshine disguise having been fully removed. He was on the phone with Shuichi Akai.

"…So Ale was caught too?" Shinichi asked.

"Yeah," Shuichi said. "He was arrested upon landing in the airport in America. He, Gin, and Vodka have completely refused to tell us anything about the Black Organization despite our threats and promises of lighter sentences."

Shinichi nodded. That was certainly disappointing, but Gin's capture was definitely progress. As for whether or not Gin had told anyone within the Organization about Shinichi and Conan being the same person, well, Shinichi reasoned because nothing had happened since Gin fled from the meat processing plant 36 hours ago that Gin had not talked. His secret was probably safe…for now.

"By the way, what about Jodie?" Shinichi asked.

"She's being treated at Haido City Hospital," Shuichi said. "I'm standing outside the door to her room right now. You did good today; Gin was one of the Organization's best agents. Capturing Ale, Vodka, and Moonshine was a very big bonus as well. I'd say that today was probably your biggest victory in your fight against the Black Organization yet."

"I certainly hope that it's not my last," Shinichi said.

"Indeed. Oh, are you going to attend Ran-kun's birthday party?"

"Yeah," Shinichi said. "I'm about to go over to her house now. I think she'll probably be glad to see me."

"Okay. Well, bye." Shuichi hung up.

 **Scene Transition**

Shinichi began to walk from Dr. Agasa's house to Ran's house. He had done this dozens, if not hundreds, of times over the course of the past year. This time, however, he'd be doing it as Shinichi instead of as Conan. The dread and fear of death from earlier had been removed and all that remained was lightheartedness and euphoria. It was moments like this when Shinichi felt happy to be alive.

He could see the Mouri Residency up ahead when…

His cell phone began to vibrate. Was this a call from Ran? He wondered. Or had Mitsuhiko perhaps decided to take advantage of having my phone number?

When he read the number, however, his heart nearly stopped.

 **0858-969-6261**

This is…he thought. This is…

This was the phone number of the Boss of the Black Organization.

 **To Be Continued**

( _Kimi To Yakusoku Shita Yasashii Ano Basho Made_ by LaPomPon)

 _Kimi ga tetsuzen inakunaru yume wo saikin yoku miru no yo to_

 _Utsumuku watashi ni nanimo iwazu ni_

 _POKETTO no naka de tsuyoku te wo nigirishimeta kimi_

 _Iro wo kisoiaisaku hana you ni_

 _Monougena ame ni sae mo yori seno sugata ga kagayaku you ni_

 _Kimi to yakusoku shita yasashii ano basho made_

 _Ima wa mada futari otagaihashiritsudzuke you ne_

 _Kimi to azayakana iro ni naru seno toki made_

 _Aenai hibi ga iteshisa wo mashiteyuku yo seshite itsu no hi ni ka_

 _Kimi to yakusoku shita yasashii ano basho made_

 _Nigemichi wo fuyaseba yokei meiro ni hamaru yo ne_

 _Tatoe hyoushiki no nai michi ga tsudzuita toshitemo_

 _Shinjiau kimehi wo michishirube ni yuku yo yasashii ano basho made_


	4. Episode 4 (886)

(Note to reader: as Detective Conan was written by a Japanese person and takes place in Japan, it is assumed that all text within the story is Japanese translated to English for the reader's convenience except for italicized text, which whenever used indicates that what's written is the original, exact, untranslated version. Or, italicized text may be used to indicate a flashback sequence. This choice of italics usage can be useful whenever characters within this fanfic use English words or phrases or whenever the author wishes to use Japanese words in the Latin script, as in the Ending. Underlined text may indicate the title of a book, poem, etcetera but it is also used to indicate that certain text is part of the lyrics of the Opening and Ending songs that are generally associated with Detective Conan and anime in general. Boldened text may be used to indicate the episode's title, what day it is, what time of day it is, location, etc. All content may not be suitable for children; reader discretion advised. I obviously do not own the rights to the Detective Conan franchise; this work is called a "fanfic" for a reason. I plan on making this a four-parter series; this is the fourth and final part. I did my best to write it as though it were a novelized version of a canon four-part episode arc from the anime series. In this case, the Birthday Surprise arc is meant to comprise episodes 883-886 of the anime series; at the time of writing there have been less than 810 episodes of the anime series made, not counting OVAs, movies, and other stuff like that. Enjoy!)

 **THE EIGHTH**

Shinichi began to walk from Dr. Agasa's house to Ran's house. He had done this dozens, if not hundreds, of times over the course of the past year. This time, however, he'd be doing it as Shinichi instead of as Conan. The dread and fear of death from earlier had been removed and all that remained was lightheartedness and euphoria. It was moments like this when Shinichi felt happy to be alive.

He could see the Mouri Residence up ahead when…

His cell phone began to vibrate. Was this a call from Ran? He wondered. Or had Mitsuhiko perhaps decided to take advantage of having my phone number?

When he read the number, however, his heart nearly stopped.

 **0858-969-6261**

This is…he thought. This is…

This phone number was the number of the Boss of the Black Organization.

 **OPENING:**

Truth is the convergence of many facts into a beam of light that pierces the shadows!

In today's case the men in black finally show themselves! This presents both a great opportunity and a great danger!

With the body of a child but the brain of an adult, his name is DETECTIVE CONAN!

[ _SILVER BULLET_ by Egoist]

You wipe the blood off your hands, leave the body to the crows

Then you re-enter the crowd, having become a wolf among the lambs

You have made the devil's bargain, yet still you walk among the saints

You let out a sigh and you dare to believe that "nobody will ever know"

A child's cry, a sobbing promise to a dying loved one, words never forgotten

Years pass, his passion undiminished by time wasted and empty leads

He at last finds the golden key that opens the door to the closed case

In the middle of a night like any other, a thousand lights shine upon you!

As long as people continue to devise ways to hurt each other

We will remain faithful and vigilant soldiers in the war on crime

Remembering that oath I swore to protect and serve I draw my gun

In a moment of clarity and brilliance the _SILVER BULLET_ is fired!

 **A Birthday Surprise from the Black Organization: Part Four!**

Shinichi looked at the number being displayed on his phone. He looked at it twice. He looked at it thrice. There was no mistake; this was the number of That Person.

Then…Gin had told the Boss after all? Shinichi thought. Was all that I went through to capture Gin for nothing then?

He knew that nothing would be accomplished by not answering; that the Boss hadn't had him killed yet and was instead calling him indicated the Boss had some reason for keeping Shinichi alive so far; this reason for not killing him might be negated if he didn't answer.

So, Shinichi clicked "Answer". He put the phone to his ear, his hand shaking.

"Hello, Shinichi Kudo. I would introduce myself, but I think you already know what people call me."

"The Boss of the Black Organization," Shinichi answered.

"Yes," the Boss of the Black Organization confirmed, his/her voice distorted by some electronic device but still easy to understand. "You know, I was quite shocked whenever Gin talked to me on the phone and informed me that you not only were still alive but had become an eight year old boy. That drug's secondary effect was not something that we had anticipated. I wanted to call you then but I also wanted to see your attempt to capture Gin proceed as normal. I told Gin that I wanted to see Conan Edogawa with my own two eyes, so I had him attach several hidden cameras to his body, as your friends down at the FBI are doubtlessly discovering right now. The cameras confirmed my suspicions: Shuichi Akai is still alive."

Shinichi's heartrate spiked, him suddenly realizing what the Boss was about to say.

"As such I've come to the conclusion that Kir can no longer be trusted," the Boss of the Black Organization said. "Five minutes ago I ordered Chianti and Korn to finish her off. She should be dead within 10 or 15 minutes. Now, at this point you're probably anxious to tell the FBI that she has been compromised in an attempt to have her rescued before my agents can fire the fatal shot. I am so confident that you cannot save her that I'll hang up now and call back in 40 seconds. Go give your allies a call."

The Boss hung up. Shinichi immediately dialed James Black's number.

"Yes, Kudo-kun?" the elderly gentleman with a glorious mustache answered.

"You have to get Hidemi Hondou out right now!" Shinichi ordered. "The Organization knows she's a spy and they're about to kill her!"

"What?" James Black said. "How did you come across the information?"

"That's not important!" Shinichi said. "You have to rescue her! Her life depends on it!"

Then he hung up. The Boss of the Black Organization then called again, with Shinichi once again clicking "Answer."

"Why did you tell me this before you succeeded in killing her?" Shinichi asked. "Surely you wouldn't take a risk like that just to show off."

"Actually, she's going to be dead in about 30 seconds," the Boss of the Black Organization said. "Confirmation of Akai's continued existence made me suspicious of Kir but I felt that alone wasn't enough to warrant the death of such a valuable agent. I needed you to confirm that she's a spy, and thanks to the fact that I've wiretapped James Black's phone this has been accomplished. Chianti and Korn are actually several hundred yards away from Kir now and they're ready to fire; seconds ago I gave the order to finish her off."

 **Scene Transition**

Hidemi was talking a stroll through the park; she had the day off from reporting. It was times like this whenever she would visit the park to surround herself with nature's beauty. Her mind dwelled upon her brother Eisuke; why did she get this nagging feeling that she was never going to be able to see him again?

She had no way of noticing the red laser light shining on the back of her head…

 **Scene Transition**

Shinichi heard a gunshot.

"The sound you just heard was me holding my phone up to Chianti's and her having pulled the trigger," the Boss of the Black Organization said. "Oh and it was a headshot too. Thank you for telling me that she was a mole."

Did I…did I just condemn Kir to die?! Shinichi thought. "Was that the only reason why you haven't killed me yet?"

"No," the Boss of the Black Organization said. "There is another reason. We'll talk later."

"Later?" Shinichi asked, confused.

"I'll let you enjoy Ran Mouri's 18th birthday party in peace before I present my offer to you," the Boss of the Black Organization said. "Consider the offer my own birthday present. Since it's not your birthday, consider this offer a present for Ran then."

"An offer?" Shinichi asked. What could this be? He had a feeling that the next one minute could determine the course of the rest of his life. "Tell me now!"

The Boss sighed. "Very well then. I will give you a chance to not only be free to live your life without having to hide from us but also to return permanently to your 18 year old body."

Shinichi's breathing become irregular. His legs were shaking violently. "Wh-wha-tt…?"

"I have consulted some of the organization's remaining chief scientists," the Boss said. "If you were shrunk due to the activation of your cells' Apoptosis function then the process can be permanently undone. My scientists are working on such a drug and they tell me that they can have it completed in as little as 3 months provided I allocate the proper resources to such a project. Also, I will permanently call off all efforts by the Organization to have you killed. What I'm saying, Shinichi Kudo, is that I can enable you go back to the life that you once enjoyed. You can be reunited with Ran as your normal self. The two of you can eventually get married, have kids, and grow old together. This is something that you want, is it not?"

"…And in return?" Shinichi asked.

"There are two things that I want in return," the Boss of the Black Organization said. "First, I want you to agree to never oppose our Organization again. It will not, of course, suffice for you to simply give us your word. You will submit to the Organization monitoring your every action for the rest of your life and we will tell you what cases you may or may not investigate. Normally I would just kill you instead of offering you this deal. However, there is a certain figure within the Organization who favors you and wanted me to give you this chance. Your guardian angel, in a sense."

"Vermouth?" Shinichi guessed.

" _Bingo_ ," the Boss of the Black Organization answered. "I do not understand why that woman wants me to give you a chance to live but it is not my desire to cross her whenever it is not necessary to do so, even though I am her superior. Also, I need you alive so that you can fulfill the second term of the deal, which is…"

"Let me guess: you want me to hand over Sherry?" Shinichi asked.

"Yes," the Boss of the Black Organization confirmed. "That is the second condition. Our reasons for this condition are twofold: first, Shiho Miyano's continued existence presents a clear and present danger to our Organization. Second, she is a traitor and as such we desire to make an example out of her so as to deter any other members of our Organization who are considering defecting."

"I imagine you don't plan on granting her a quick and painless death," Shinichi said.

"We both know that she will die a slow and excruciating death at our hands," the Boss answered. "Now, you are speaking to me with an adult voice right now. I would otherwise assume that this was due to some form of voice manipulation but due to the footage from the hidden cameras on Gin I've come to the conclusion that you have taken a temporary antidote for the drug. A temporary 24-hour antidote developed by Sherry, I'm guessing. You have probably taken steps to keep her alive up until now because you are dependent on her to eventually cure you of the Incomplete Detective."

This guy is spot-on, Shinichi thought. Then again, he probably wouldn't be the Boss of the Black Organization if he were an idiot.

"You're wrong about one thing though," Shinichi said. "The reason that I've been protecting Sherry is not just because I need her to develop a permanent antidote. That was the reason at first and I still certainly hope that she'll one day be able to do this for me but as I came to know her she became more than just an ally or business associate to me. I would protect her even if I had nothing to gain from doing so."

He then heard a strange sound coming from the other end of the phone call.

Is that…laughter? Shinichi thought.

"Oh, that is rich," the Boss of the Black Organization said. "You care about Sherry's wellbeing now, do you? Gin told me otherwise. He told me how you were just about to tell him Sherry's whereabouts. After he threatened Ran Mouri, that is. Therefore it's clear that however much you profess to care about Sherry you would give her over to us in a heartbeat in order to save Ran. So, if you refuse my exceedingly generous offer then I will kill both you and Ran. How does that sound?"

Shinichi didn't know how to respond.

"I do, of course, understand that you'll be needing some time to think about it," the Boss of the Black Organization said. "Therefore I will grant you until tonight at eight to come to a decision. Then I'll call you back and you'd better have an answer for me then. If you have not yet decided by this time or if you refuse to pick up the phone then I'll just assume that you've rejected my offer, in which case I'll have both you and Ran killed just as I said I would. Until eight tonight, farewell." Then the Boss hung up.

 **Scene Transition**

Shinichi stood in front of the door at the entrance of the Mouri residence. He knocked three times. He looked at his watch; the time was 3:09 PM. Ran's birthday party would start in 30 minutes.

He heard the sound of footsteps; somebody was walking up to the door to open it.

Shiho/Conan opened the door, holding his/her crutches. "How did it go?"

"Gin, Ale, and Vodka were captured," Shinichi said.

Shiho/Conan sighed in relief. "Come on in then. She's waiting for you."

"What, you told her?!"

"No," Shiho/Conan said. "She already knew. Somehow she knew that you were coming."

Shinichi stepped inside; Shiho/Conan closed the door behind him.

"Yo Ran!" Shinichi called out.

Ran suddenly rushed out of her room and charged towards Shinichi.

Oh crap, he thought. I'm totally gonna get kicked in the stomach or face now.

Instead, however, she wrapped her arms around him and embraced him tightly. "I knew you'd be here today. I didn't doubt for a second."

"Of course," Shinichi said. "How could I not show up for your 18th birthday?"

Ran let go of him.

"So where's uncle?" Shinichi asked.

She looked at him funny.

"Uh, I mean your father!" Shinichi corrected hastily, remembering that at this moment he was not Conan.

"He's gone to get some last second supplies," Ran said.

"None of these 'supplies' would happen to be alcohol, would it?" Shinichi asked anxiously.

"No," Ran answered. "But you know, it's funny. During supper yesterday and the day before yesterday Conan-kun and Ai-chan seemed to be trying to dissuade father from drinking. In fact, Conan-kun seemed to get upset during breakfast two days ago when father brought up letting me try beer for my birthday."

"Ran…do you really want to try alcohol?" Shinichi asked suddenly, afraid that she'd answer yes.

"No," Ran answered.

"Wait…you don't?!" Shinichi repeated, genuinely surprised.

"I mean, it sounds like drinking would be an interesting experience and I can't say that I'm not a tiny bit curious about it and why so many people like it so much," Ran explained. "But we've both seen what my father has become like ever since he started drinking long ago. I don't want to be like that; I don't even want to take the chance that I'll become hooked on my first drink. That's the kind of person who my father is, but I can choose to be different from him, can I not? Anyhow, Sonoko said alcohol is gross."

"Yeah, I've heard some people telling me the same thing," Shinichi said, relieved to hear Ran's answer. "Ran, thank you. Hearing that makes me happier than you know."

At that moment Sonoko opened the door and stepped inside. She looked at Shinichi with a suspicious look. "So, you decided to take a break from your deductions to visit your wife on her birthday, huh?"

"Something like that, yeah," Shinichi said.

"Oh, your present should be coming up shortly," Sonoko said.

A husky man in a suit came up the stairs carrying a very large present, panting and sweating profusely. Sonoko opened the door for him and he walked inside, putting the present down on the floor.

"Sonoko!" Ran protested, blushing.

"Thanks," Sonoko said to the man, who then left. Sonoko closed the door behind him.

"I really didn't need a present that big," Ran said.

Before Sonoko could respond there was another knock on the door. Sonoko answered it and Masumi Sera stepped inside, carrying a medium-sized present. Alongside her was…

That unknown child, Shinichi and Shiho/Conan both thought simultaneously. That girl whose name may or may not be Mary. And why did Masumi seem so surprised to see Shinichi standing there?

"Oh, Masumi-chan!" Ran said. "And you brought…that girl with you. Uh, hi there."

"Hello," 'Mary' said casually.

Is that child…glaring at me? Shinichi thought.

"Uh, Shinichi, this person is Masumi Sera," Ran said.

"Yeah," Shinichi said, extending his hand for Masumi to shake it. "I've heard a lot about you from Conan-kun. You're also a High School Detective, right?"

Masumi shook his hand. "Yeah. Ran, uh, has told me a lot about you too."

Sonoko once again looked at Shinichi suspiciously. "So what did you get Ran?"

Shinichi winced. Oh crap! He thought. I totally forgot to get her anything!

"Uh, I need to go back to my house to go get my present for Ran," Shinichi lied. "Ran, you wouldn't mind if I take Haib…er, Conan with me, right?"

"Uh, sure," Ran said. "Don't take too long."

 **Scene Transition**

Shinichi and Shiho/Conan stepped outside. They knew that now they could talk as they walked to a nearby store.

"The music store is past the professor's house," Shinichi said. "We'll excuse how long it took us to walk there and back on your supposed broken leg. Speaking of which you should discard the crutches and your brace once we're out of sight of the Mouri Residence and come put them back on when we come back."

You're the one with the broken leg, Shiho/Conan thought with amusement. "Something's bothering you."

Shinichi sighed. "Yeah."

"Hey, what you said about having captured Gin…" Shiho/Conan implied hastily.

"That wasn't a lie," Shinichi reassured. "But…Gin's the least of our problems now. It's That Person."

"Wait," Shiho/Conan said, worried. "You don't mean that the Boss of the…"

"Yeah, he knows," Shinichi confirmed. He gave me a call several minutes ago. He made me an offer."

"Hand me in to the Organization and he'll let you live?" Shiho/Conan guessed.

"Yeah," Shinichi confirmed. "Not only that but he even promised me a permanent antidote. Conan, for the first time I'm being given a real chance to return to this body permanently, to never have to wear those glasses which are on your face right now ever again."

"…are you going to do it then?" Shiho/Conan asked, his/her head lowered. "Do you plan on handing me in?"

"Of course not!" Shinichi protested. "That's not even an option! Don't talk like that!"

"But what will you do then?" Shiho/Conan asked. "Are the two of you going to make a run for it?"

"I can't ask that of her," Shinichi said. "I can't ask her to give up everything and go into hiding, never being able to see or contact her father or mother again. Not because of me. Besides, she doesn't know that I'm Conan. I'd have to tell her everything and I don't know how she'd react."

"The way I see it you have three options," Shiho/Conan said. "First, you can try to capture or kill the Boss of the Black Organization and hope that he hasn't told anyone else about what he knows. Second, you can accept his offer and turn me over to him. Third, you and Ran can go into hiding."

Shinichi sighed. "Yeah, that sums it up. I wouldn't know how to even begin if I tried to pursue option one. And even if Ran were to run away with me, there's nothing to say that the Boss wouldn't retaliate by killing mine and Ran's friends and family. Kogoro, Eri, and my mom and dad could all be killed. Not to mention Mitsuhiko, Genta, and Ayumi. The deadline is 8 o'clock, so whatever option I pursue I must decide by then."

They entered the store. It was a store which had some new music albums up for sale.

"I hear that band Dorcus released a new album," Shinichi said. "I guess Ran will just have to find out whether or not their new songwriter is any good."

He purchased the album and the two of them walked out of the store. They were passing by the Professor's house when…

"Wait, what's she doing here?" Shiho/Conan asked.

"Mary" walked past them, having come from the Professor's house.

Could she be…? Shinichi thought. He hurriedly called the professor with his smartphone.

"Hey, Shinichi," Dr. Agasa answered. "What is it?"

" _Hakase_ , what did that girl want?" Shinichi snapped.

"She was asking about Ai-kun," Dr. Agasa answered.

"What did you tell her?!"

"The same thing that I told Mitsuhiko-kun, Genta-kun, and Ayumi-kun," Dr. Agasa asked, confused as to why Shinichi was so aggressive all of the sudden. "I told her that Ai-kun was at a friend's house. Why do you ask? Wait…you don't think that she's…?"

"I don't know what to think yet," Shinichi answered. "But there's something off about that girl, professor. We need to keep an eye on her."

 **Scene Transition**

"Mary" stepped foot inside the phone booth and closed the door behind her. She looked at the time; it was 3:28 PM. Right on schedule. She inserted several quarters into the payphone and dialed that certain number. She put the payphone to her ear.

The phone began to ring. Then the person on the other side picked up.

"This is _Pizza_ _Hut_ ," the person on the other side said. "Would you like to order a pizza to go?"

"I'd like for Line Zero to be opened," she requested.

There was a pause. "What's the password?"

" _Reichenbach Falls_ ," she answered.

There was another pause. "Password confirmed," the pizza guy said. "The line will be open for ten minutes."

The pizza guy then hung up. Mary waited one minute, looked around to confirm nobody was watching, and then dialed the other number. It took about 10 seconds to receive a response; she turned the concealed voice changing device off.

"It's been a while."

"Hi, mother," 'Mary' said using her real voice, that of a teenage boy. "Your memo yesterday; why did you request contact two weeks early?"

"First things first," Mary's mother said. "How is she? How's your sister?"

"She's alive and well," Mary said. "I strongly suspect that at this moment she's attending Ran Mouri's birthday party as Conan."

"So it's confirmed that the two of them have made contact with full knowledge of the other's true identity?"

"Yes," Mary said. "I believe this to be the case. And no, she still doesn't know who I am."

"Keep close to her," Mary's mother said. "The probability that within the next 24 hours she'll be captured by the Black Organization is much, much higher than normal."

"Is that why you arranged for early contact?" Mary asked.

"That was only part of the reason," Mary's mother said. "There's something else and I don't really know how to put this."

"Just tell me."

"Gin's been captured," Mary's mother said, dropping a metaphorical bombshell. "I received word just 15 minutes ago and he's being held at a local police station. Do you need directions to the station?"

Mary felt an old anger resurging in her chest. "No, I know where it is you're talking about."

"The choice is yours, Satoshi," the woman on the other side said. "Are you sure that you want to do this?"

"Yes," Satoshi/Mary said. "He must pay the ultimate price for what he did to her."

He/she hung up the phone and walked out of the phone booth.

I'm going to do it, he/she thought, heading for the police station. I'm going to kill Gin.

 **Scene Transition**

 **Unknown Location, Tokyo**

She turned the nozzle; the water stopped flowing. She put on her change of clothes. She opened the door and walked out into the hallways. She looked at her watch; 2 hours and 12 minutes before she had to board her flight back to the United States. What a chore, she thought.

She had two interviews today, one as Chris Vineyard and the other as her real self. Both were in New York City; to live those two lives simultaneously she found it necessary to have both personas live in the same city.

My real self, she mused bitterly. No, I can't say that she is the real me. Not anymore. I was born that person but over time I became someone entirely different. Now…I am Vermouth.

She walked down the stairs and sat down on the couch in front of the TV. But she didn't feel like watching TV; not today. Instead she waited for That Man to emerge from his office. The man who she called father.

Around thirty seconds later he opened the door and walked into the living room.

"Well, did you make that deal with him?" she asked.

"I made the offer," he answered, "but I'm giving him until 8 to make a final decision."

"Do you intend on keeping your word if he complies?"

"Of course," that man said. "I know how much you want me to spare his life, for whatever silly reason. Also, it's been confirmed that Kir was a mole."

"Was?"

"I had her killed several minutes ago."

"I see," Vermouth said. "Well, I'm going to go out and get something to eat."

"Be sure to wear a disguise," he said casually.

 **Scene Transition**

After applying a quick, simple disguise she hopped onto her motorbike and took off. While she wasn't generally a distracted driver Vermouth couldn't help but think back.

The person now known as "Vermouth" was born in Japan to a Japanese father and an American mother, both parents being very prominent and possibly founding members of the Black Organization. She had blonde hair, which set her apart immediately from the other students in her school and caused her to be something of a social outcast, having been subjected to much teasing from the other kids. She recalled having to wear a hat over her head to conceal her golden hair. One day by chance she happened to meet a boy who was about her age, a boy who didn't look down on her golden hair, a boy who taught her not to be afraid of animals. The two of them were good friends for a few months and she fell in love with him despite both of them being merely children. That all ended, however, whenever, whenever her father decided that she was old enough to begin her training with the Organization and decided that the family would move to America where she would begin her training. She gave that boy she loved a letter telling him where to meet her again every ten years, but it wasn't until very recently, 40 years later, whenever that reunion actually became a reality. Her birth name was Fusae Masuyama, but in the later years of her life she had switched her last name to that of her mother: Campbell. The name of that boy who she had befriended was Hiroshi Agasa.

In America she remembered her father pushing her very hard to learn the arts of disguise, hand-to-hand combat, stealth, marksmanship, and lying. Especially lying. She also recalled him hitting her whenever she failed in her training exercises; her mother often tried to step in on behalf of her daughter but this was usually to no avail. Whenever she was 15 years old her mother got into a horrific accident and she suspected strongly that her father was behind it, though he denied it vehemently. One day when Fusae was 16 years old her father gave her a mission for the first time. A 32 year old plumber named Wyatt Holmes had stumbled upon evidence of the Black Organization's existence and activities; she entered his home that night and shot him along with his pregnant wife. As a reward for "a job well done" her father gave her the codename "Vermouth". It was a name that she would carry for over 30 years as the Black Organization's most prolific assassin and one of the Organization's most valuable members.

She did manage to gain one concession from her father, however. Whenever she was 18 she told him that she would continue to serve the Black Organization faithfully, that she would continue even to kill for them, on the condition that she was allowed to live her own life on the side. Surprisingly, her father agreed to this condition and Vermouth worked hard for many years until she became a world-famous actress known as Sharon Vineyard (the skills her father taught her proved quite handy in the world of acting). As years passed she realized that she was no longer such a young woman and this showed on her face. About 3 years ago, when she had ultimately decided on doing away with her Sharon Vineyard persona once and for all in favor of the younger Chris Vineyard persona, she underwent the most extreme form of facial reconstruction surgery possible to make herself look decades younger than she was. It worked all too well.

Vermouth had forgotten to return to Japan for the planned meeting with Hiroshi the first ten years after she moved away, but she didn't forget on year 20, and as the meeting on year 20 approached she realized that she wanted to keep something of her actual identity alive. So, she decided to take on another "persona" and she entered the field of fashion designer brands as Fusae Campbell. It was only within recent years that her Gingko Brand took off in popularity, but money was never a problem for her due to the millions of US Dollars that she had accumulated through her acting career.

Her millions of adoring fans did not realize that despite the glamor of her life on the outside she was miserable. She had always felt that despite all that she had accomplished as an actress and a fashion designer she had no worth except as a useful tool of the Black Organization and her father. She had fans and on rare occasions her father would give her a metaphorical pat on the back for the things that she accomplished for the Organization but no one in her life truly cared about her. Not until she re-met Hiroshi Agasa recently, and he didn't even know who she really was!

I am a 50 year old woman and I am still killing for my father, she realized. I still do whatever he tells me to do like a good little girl. I've never had any control over my own destiny and I never will.

That wasn't entirely true, of course. There was that one thing. That one service which she performed for a scientist couple many years ago. Atsushi and Elena Miyano had asked her to fake their deaths and that of their youngest child Satoshi and Vermouth complied; it was the one time in her life when her ability to masterfully manipulate a crime scene was used for good instead of evil. Less than a year ago she had received a call from Atsushi for the first time in a long while; he told her that a young boy named Conan Edogawa was probably the "Silver Bullet", the person who would bring down the Black Organization. At this time Conan was actually asleep in the car seat next to her and she had the opportunity to kill him, but Atsushi's timely call convinced her otherwise. The Silver Bullet was nothing for her to fear, she had realized.

No, she thought. The Silver Bullet is my salvation.

Her motorcycle arrived at the restaurant's parking lot. It was a fancy European restaurant. Wanting to take her mind off unpleasant things, she wondered what kind of wine she was going to order with her meal. She actually hated the way that the drink "Vermouth" tasted, so…

Suddenly her phone began to ring. She looked at the number; it said "Unknown Caller".

Line Zero, she thought. Atsushi.

She clicked "Answer" and put the phone to her ear.

"Hello, Fusae," Atsushi said. "Listen carefully because what I'm about to tell you is very important. Also, I apologize in advance for what I'm about to ask of you…"

 **Scene Transition**

 **3:35 PM**

Shinichi and Shiho/Conan made their way back to the Mouri Residence. By this time Sonoko, Masumi, Kazuha, Tomoaki Araide, Kazumi Tsukamoto (former captain of Ran's karate club), Aya Nanakawa (friend of Ran and Sonoko, works at a small food market), Kogoro and Eri were present.

"Happy birthday," Shinichi said sheepishly, handing Ran the Dorcus album.

"Thank you!" Ran said, genuinely appreciative of the gift. "How did you know that I wanted this?"

Shinichi chuckled nervously. It's not like I've heard you talking for months about how you couldn't wait for that album to come out, he thought sarcastically with an outward deadpan look.

"What's with that look?" Sonoko asked.

Shinichi winced. All this time people have actually been able to see the look?! he realized.

"You know, Conan-kun often sports that exact same deadpan look," Ran said. "Isn't that right?"

Shiho/Conan said nothing.

Eri walked up to Shinichi. "So, you're that boy Kudo, right? I think I remember you from when you were little."

"Yes ma'am," Shinichi said, glad to have someone change the subject.

She put her face up to Shinichi's ear. "She likes you," she whispered. "Don't break her heart or else I'll make you wish you were never born."

Shinichi winced again. But then he turned serious. "Excuse me, there's a phone call that I really need to make.

Shinichi stepped outside for a minute. He gave Eisuke a call, informing him that his sister was dead. Then he stepped back inside, a grave look on his face.

"Who was that?" Masumi asked.

"Eisuke Hondou," Shinichi answered.

"What happened?" Ran asked, a concerned look on her face.

"You'll all find out what happened soon enough," Shinichi answered cryptically but seriously. "For now, go back to celebrating Ran's birthday. That's what's important right now."

He sighed. Eisuke had not taken the news well. Not at all. And to think that my gullibility led to her death, he thought painfully.

 **Scene Transition**

Satoshi/Mary stepped inside the police station. Takagi was standing at the entrance calling Sato.

"Yumi-san did what?!" Takagi said to Sato, laughing loudly. Then he saw Satoshi/Mary and turned serious. "Hold on. I'm going to have to call you back. I love you too. Bye."

He hung up and face Satoshi/Mary. "Are you lost, miss? This isn't a place for children."

"I need to see Gin," Satoshi/Mary said. "He's a man with long golden hair and a black suit. I know you're holding him here!"

Takagi winced. "How…how did you know…that?"

"Hurry, officer!" Satoshi/Mary ordered. "It's urgent!"

What does all this seem so familiar? Takagi thought. I've only seen one child act like this, and that's Conan-kun. Well, Ai-kun too on occasion. If she's acting like this she must have a really good reason, so…

"Uh, okay," he said sheepishly, not really knowing why he was taking orders from a teenage girl.

Satoshi/Mary and Takagi entered the room with Gin.

"I need to be alone with him," Satoshi/Mary said, shooting Takagi a fierce look.

Strangely intimidated, Takagi left the room and closed the door behind him.

Gin look a Satoshi/Mary, who in turn looked at Gin. Satoshi/Mary turned the voice changing device off.

"Who the heck are you?" Gin asked.

"My name is Satoshi Miyano, the only son and youngest child of Atsushi and Elena Miyano," he answered. "I am 15 years old. Recently with help from Vermouth's disguise expertise (it also helped that Satoshi had an unusually petit build for a male and that he had a "pretty boy" face) I disguised my self as a girl. My mission is to protect my remaining sister Shiho but when I heard that you were captured I could resist coming here." He put on gloves and then pointed a gun at Gin's face.

Gin's eyes opened wide. The Miyanos…they were still alive?! He thought. And that woman…she had willingly helped them? "What are you doing?!"

Mary climbed onto the table, crouched down, and pointed the gun at the side of Gin's head. "I'm going to shoot you, I'm going to put the gun in your hand, and I'm going to make this look like a suicide. I've practiced for such a scenario and I'm confident that I can swallow the gloves I'm wearing right now and vomit them up later. With no fingerprints on the gun but yours and nothing lying around for me to use to conceal my fingerprints were I the killer, the police would reason that I couldn't have done it. Also, I should go lock the door right now so that I have a few seconds in between when I shoot you and when the police are able to enter; I've already thought up what to say when they get here."

He got off the table, locked the door, and then got back onto the table with his gun pointed at the side of Gin's face.

"Why are you doing this?" Gin asked. Then he remembered. That realization showed in his eyes.

"Yes, Gin," Satoshi said. "I am about to kill you for one simple reason: because you killed Akemi. Justice will be served through your death."

Gin suddenly calmed down. He closed his eyes. "Then do it."

Satoshi didn't expect to hear this. "What?"

"Go on, do it," Gin said. "You said that you plan on killing me, right? Wait are you waiting for? Your method just might work; also, the police would be reluctant to suspect a 15 year old girl, right? Do it."

Don't push me, Satoshi thought angrily. No, I must stay calm. "I just have one last question for you, Gin. Do you remember her?"

Gin grinned. "Akemi Miyano? Your older sister? Oh yeah, I remember her. I enjoyed killing her more than I've ever enjoyed killing anyone else. Do you want to know why? Because when I pulled the trigger that day in that warehouse I killed the person who Dai Moroboshi loved most. That's why I'd do it again in a heartbeat."

Satoshi lost it in that moment. "Go to hell Gin!"

He then tried to pull the trigger. But his finger wouldn't do it. He began shaking. After a few seconds of trying in vain to get his body to pull the trigger he got down from the table and put the gun away, a dejected look on his face.

Gin snickered. "It isn't as easy as it looks, right? Taking a human life, that is. For the majority of people such an act would be the greatest possible violation of the moral code instilled in them by society's brainwashing. You're one of those brainwashed fools, it would seem. For a small but superior minority of people, however, for people such as myself, it's not hard to do at all. It's an evolutionary advantage; like a mutation, people like me are those who society failed to properly educate in its dogma, those who society overlooked. And I am all the better for it."

"You are indeed one of those people, Gin," Satoshi said, looking away from Gin, tears beginning to stream down his face and his body trembling with rage. "The police's job is to hunt down the people who make up that minority and lock them away where they can't hurt anyone else. You're a monster, Gin. Nothing more, nothing less."

"What'd you say, punk?" Gin said. "I'm not hearing anything you say."

"If I were to kill you now it'd be too lenient. You should be made to live every day for the rest of your life in a cell; you should think daily about what you've done, the lives that you've taken."

"I won't lose any sleep over it," Gin barked, irritated. "What more, my people will break me out sometime soon."

"You know that's not the way that the Organization operates, Gin," Satoshi said. "They don't grant second chances. Remember Pisco? He was the freaking Boss of the Black Organization!"

Wh…what? Gin thought. Pisco…Pisco was…the…if even the Boss was killed after…"You're a liar!"

"I'm not," Satoshi said. "You must be a special kind of stupid if you believe that they'd grant you something that they didn't grant their own leader. You know what, Gin? For the longest time after hearing that you killed Akemi I was consumed with rage. I was too young to have remembered my sister, but whenever I heard about her death I couldn't think about anything else for months. But now that I've stood face to face with you and couldn't pull the trigger perhaps I can know peace at last. I can at least thank you for being incompetent enough to get yourself captured. Otherwise we might've never got to meet. Goodbye Gin."

Satoshi then began to walk away, a smile on his tearstained face.

"Come BACK here you piece of filth!" Gin roared.

Satoshi stopped in his tracks. He turned around. "One last thing, Gin. I'm not going to kill you, but I'm going to give you a chance to take the easy way out. You'd better hurry before somebody else comes in here and takes it away. It's unlikely that you'll provide the police with any useful information anyway, right? Anyhow, I've got a birthday party to get back to. I've been gone way too long."

He emptied his gun so that it only had one bullet in it. Then he laid the gun down on the table and left the room.

Gin was seething with rage. Who did that little punk think he was?! He slammed his fists into the table. He did so again. He looked at the gun in his hand; should he use it to try to escape?

No, Gin thought. I can't escape from this place with just one bullet in my gun. Even if I do escape they'll be coming after me. Both the police and the Organization.

…He's right, Gin thought, a wave of depression coming over him. The kid's right. In life I've done nothing but inflict untold suffering and death upon others. And for all my alleged superiority I'm about to be locked up for the rest of my life. I have no greater right to continue existing than an earthworm. I am a worthless piece of garbage, a subhuman; why let this life go on further?

So Gin put the barrel of the gun inside of his mouth, put his finger on the trigger, and…

 **Scene Transition**

 **6:40 PM**

Everyone had eaten. The cake had been blown out and eaten. Ran's presents had been opened.

"Hey Ran, let's all get some frozen yogurt!" Sonoko said.

"Uh, in a few minutes," Ran said. She turned to Shinichi. "I'd like to talk to you alone."

The two of them went into Kogoro's/Conan's room. Shinichi closed the door.

"What do you want to talk about?" Shinichi asked.

"I don't know where to begin, to be honest," Ran said. "I have a million questions for you and I don't know which one to ask first. For starters, where have you been for this past year?"

Shinichi sighed. "Ran, I cannot give you the details, but I'm part of a top-secret case; that day at Tropical Land whenever I ran into that alleyway I was meeting with two contacts with _Interpol_. They had contacted me several days prior and invited me to join this investigation. In that alleyway I told them that I accepted. I had no idea that they expected me to leave immediately though. The best that I was able to do for this past year was call you regularly and come back to visit whenever the course of the investigation took me back to Japan."

"You mean…you've been traveling the world investigating this case?" Ran asked.

"Not so loud," Shinichi said. "But yeah. The case that I'm a part of is huge. It involves a massive criminal syndicate."

Ran laughed softly. "So that's what you tell me, huh Shinichi? Why didn't you just admit…that you ran away from home?"

Huuh? Shinichi thought. "Uh, no, it's nothing like that." Then he coughed.

"That brings me to my second question," Ran said. "Why do you always seem really sick every time you reappeared during this past year? Your leg…I've noticed that today you don't seem to be walking normal. It's like you've got a limp. And you've got a cold. Just like…"

"Conan-kun is in the next room, right?" Shinichi said. "You can't honestly accuse me of being him."

"Yeah, that's what I thought that one time too," Ran said. "When you came back during that play. Conan-kun was in the same room as us, and that seemed to destroy the idea that you're Conan. But I've noticed something. Whenever you come back, Conan-kun seems to act really different during this time. Like he's bored. Lifeless, even."

Shinichi donned the deadpan look again. Shiho's a really bad actor, he thought.

"And he's always sick during this time," Ran said. "You're both sick. But despite the fact that during this time he covers his face with a mask Conan-kun doesn't sneeze once. It's as though he's just pretending to be sick. Like he's…like he's covering for you!"

"What are you implying?!" Shinichi snapped, his body filled with adrenaline.

"On that night at Tropical Land you got into some kind of serious trouble and you had the professor concoct some potion which made you shrink so you could hide," Ran accused. "On occasions you use some other potion to un-shrink and you get either Mitsuhiko-kun, Ayumi-kun, Genta-kun, or Ai-chan to pretend to be you during that time so I think you and Conan are two separate people."

"Th-that's ridiculous!" Shinichi protested. This is really, really, really bad, he thought.

"Where's Ai-chan now then?" Ran asked. "I passed the other three by earlier today while 'Conan' was with me. But I haven't seen her all day, so it must've been her!"

In a desperate move Shinichi raised his stun-gun wristwatch, aimed at Ran's neck, and pushed the button. To his dismay, nothing came out. He then remembered that he hadn't refilled since using his last tranquilizer dart on Gin.

"And what is that?!" Ran demanded, pointing to Shinichi's wristwatch. "I've seen that thing on Conan's wrist! In fact, there've been times when he seemed to be aiming it seconds before father passed out! Does that thing have some kind of sleeping dart in it?!"

Shinichi was so taken back by all that was happening that he fell backwards and slammed into the wall. "I-I can't tell you anything! Please, Ran! I cannot tell you a thing! If I could then I would but I just can't! If you know the truth then your life will be in danger!"

"I don't need protecting!" Ran screamed. "I need the truth!"

Then Ran burst into tears.

Ran, Shinichi thought tenderly, the adrenaline fading. I suppose that your life is already in danger, isn't it?

"Shinichi, I can't take this any longer!" Ran exploded. "Constantly not knowing where on earth you are or if you're even still alive! One can only take it for so long! I need you, Shinichi! I…I…I LOVE YOU!"

Shinichi compulsively put his arms around Ran, not knowing what else to do. He hugged her tight. "Ran, you won't have to wait much longer. Just a little further and I'll be able to come back to you. You will wait for me a little while longer…won't you?"

Ran said nothing. She just continued crying, her head leaning on his shoulder.

Kogoro, always having had a knack for stumbling upon a scene at the worst possible moment, opened the door to see Shinichi and Ran hugging intensely. He got the totally wrong idea.

"What are you two doing?!" Kogoro demanded. "Neither of you are old enough yet for that kind of thing!"

They let go of each other.

"I will wait for you then," Ran said to Shinichi, ignoring her father's presence. "Don't keep me waiting too long."

Ran then left the room, leaving Shinichi with Kogoro.

"What just happened?" Kogoro asked.

"Mouri-san," Shinichi said, "you do understand that you must never offer her beer, right?"

Kogoro sighed. "Yeah, I know. Having thought it over I've decided that it wouldn't be good if she ended up like me."

You're a good man, Kogoro, Shinichi thought. Despite your bumbling and incompetent nature you have a good heart beneath it all.

Shinichi walked out of Kogoro's/Conan's room and faced Shiho/Conan. She looked back at him.

I am truly sorry, he thought, but there is only one way to fulfil my promise to Ran and to keep her safe.

 **Scene Transition**

 **6:50 PM**

That man relaxed on his mansion's balcony, a Cuban Cigar in his mouth and a copy of _Hot Babes_ magazine translated into Japanese in his hand.

I haven't smoked in 2 years, he realized. Oh how I've missed the pleasant sensation it brings me. I should've never listened to that stupid doctor.

He looked at his watch; a little more than an hour remained before he was to call Shinichi Kudo back. And then another threat to the Organization would be neutralized.

As of last December he was the Boss of the Black Organization. His brother Kenzo had led it for decades under the codename _Chardonnay_ , but after Kenzo finally made a fatal mistake he had been able to receive the council's authorization to have his brother killed and assume that position of power which he had coveted for half a century. Not bad for a man who was now 72 years old.

Kenzo had adopted a…unique policy as the Boss. Knowing that one or several of his subordinate operatives would surely at some point or another attempt to kill the Boss if they knew who he was, he had decided to hide among in plain sight among them as an agent of the Organization himself. He adopted the secondary codename "Pisco" and nobody was the wiser that he was anything other than a typical field agent of the Organization. Only the members of the Council as well as his brother, his brother's wife, and his niece knew his identity. Kenzo felt that this policy kept him safe. Plus, he felt it was much more interesting to take part in the dirty work himself instead of just sitting around at some desk issuing orders. Kenzo's orders to other members of the Organization were administered by phone with the help of a voice changing device that would prevent the recipient from recognizing his voice.

This ultimately was used against Kenzo whenever that same phone number with the same voice distortion system was used to order his death during his showdown with Conan and Haibara at the Haido City Hotel. It was then that Kenzo's twin brother, Jiro Masuyama, who had been for a very long time the second most important figure within the Organization, was able to take his place.

Jiro, who had the codename _Pinot Noir_ , continued Kenzo's policy of hiding in plain sight. His other codename was "Korn", and he was known to the other agents as an antisocial sniper who was partnered with Chianti on missions. In fact, other than the members of the Council, Jiro's daughter Vermouth, and more recently Bourbon nobody knew of the transition of power that had taken place; the agents knew their boss simply as "Boss" so they continued to assume after Pisco's/Chardonnay's death that their enigmatic leader was the same person as always. Neither did the agents know that Pisco and Korn were brothers; Korn made sure of this with the help of some plastic surgery, which also helped alleviate suspicions that Vermouth was related to him.

As the new leader of the Black Organization Jiro/Korn/Pinot Noir had to address the threat posed by those individuals known as "Silver Bullets", those individuals who had the potential to bring the Organization down. Shuichi Akai/Rye/Dai Moroboshi was one such individual. But ever since Gin had told him yesterday about Shinichi Kudo/Conan Edogawa he began to suspect that this high school detective was another. To a lesser extent so was Sherry/Shiho Miyano, as the symbolic value of a person who had defected from the Organization posed an inherent threat to the Organization's stability.

I must deal with those threats, he knew. And he was certainly making progress; if Kudo accepted his offer then Sherry would be captured and Shinichi would be manageable. That would only leave Shuichi Akai.

Until his business with Shinichi had concluded he would not tell the Council that he had discovered Shinichi's identity; if nothing went wrong then he would tell them. If something did go wrong, on the other hand, he could bury the incident under the rug and he'd be spared any embarrassment. For the time being only he and Vermouth knew Shinichi's identity.

I should've made him hand over Akai as well, he realized. Then the Organization would be fully secure. Then he could rest easy knowing that the second half of the prophecy could not be fulfilled and that he had no rivals within the Organization. There was still the matter of a successor though. He had told the Council that Vermouth was to succeed him upon his death provided that she was not the one who caused his death, but so that she wouldn't start plotting ways to kill him he hadn't informed her that she was his successor. She'd find out once he died. Now that he thought about it, however, he questioned Vermouth's ability and trustworthiness to properly lead the Organization. He had picked up on signs that his daughter's loyalty to the Organization was not absolute even after all these years. In this past year especially it seemed as though she was becoming more independent, this independence even being at times detrimental of the Organization.

Perhaps I should begin looking for a possible other successor? He considered.

The sliding balcony door opened. He got up and turned around. It was Vermouth.

"I have a question," Vermouth said. "What are you going to do to Sherry?"

"I will have her killed, of course," Pinot Noir answered. "In order to deter all members thinking about defecting."

"I see," Vermouth said.

There's no other way then, she thought. I must do that thing and I must do it now.

And then at that moment Vermouth/Fusae Campbell attacked her father…

 **Scene Transition**

 **7:05 PM**

Ran, her parents, and all her friends drive off to go get some frozen yogurt. Only Shinichi, Shiho/Conan, and "Mary" remained at the Mouri Residence; based on how far away the frozen yogurt place was it'd be about an hour before they got back. Assuming that traffic was fairly light and that they didn't spend a huge amount of time talking after they ate, both of which were wishful thinking.

As soon as Mary stepped inside the bathroom…

"What is it that you wanted to talk to me about?" Shiho/Conan asked. "Have you come to a decision?"

Shinichi nodded. "Yeah, I've chosen. I devised a plan to capture the Boss. Please follow me to the professor's house."

 **Scene Transition**

The two of them stepped inside Dr. Agasa's house.

"Oh, Shinichi!" Dr. Agasa said.

"Professor, I need you to refill my stun-gun wristwatch," Shinichi said.

Dr. Agasa took the wristwatch from Shinichi and went to put another dart in it.

"So what's your plan?" Shiho/Conan asked.

"You'll see," Shinichi said with a grin.

"Can you at least tell me how confident you are in this plan?"

"90 percent," Shinichi said quite confidently.

Dr. Agasa came back. He handed the wristwatch to Shinichi.

"All right, let's go," Shinichi said to Shiho/Conan.

"What about me?" Dr. Agasa asked.

"Your help won't be needed this time, professor," Shinichi said with a smile.

Shiho/Conan was confused. Was he really so confident that he was refusing the professor's help?

They stepped outside and entered the Kudo Residence, which was next door. Knowing Akai Shinichi knew that he wouldn't be home until late at night. So Shinichi and Shiho/Conan were there alone. Shinichi flipped the light switch.

"So why did we come here?" Shiho/Conan asked.

She looked up at Shinichi. Earlier's confident grin was replaced with a very sober look. An unnervingly sober look.

"Kudo-kun?" she asked. "What are you…?"

She then knew. There was no plan. Shinichi had only stopped at the Professor's house so that he'd have the means to…

Shinichi opened his stun-gun wristwatch, aimed it at Shiho/Conan, and fired.

 **Scene Transition**

 **7:20 PM**

She got off her motorcycle, a small trail of blood left on the road behind her.

There's no way that they won't be able to find me, she thought. Even if they don't, I'll probably bleed out before the Organization can get to me.

She had done it; she had killed her father, the Boss of the Black Organization. She managed to push him off the balcony, where he fell headfirst to his death. Knowing that Pinot Noir's vitals were monitored from a distance by the Organization at all times, she knew that they'd learn of his death immediately. She also knew that they'd immediately check the mansion's security cameras and discover that she was the culprit. She would've picked a method which didn't lead back to her but there was no time. She would've used a gun but the mansion was guarded; even the Boss's daughter couldn't have gotten in with a gun. The bullet wound was obtained when she attempted to flee; a guard had shot her. She just barely made it onto her motorcycle and escaped with her life.

She now limped her way into the building, which was an old warehouse. Or, more specifically, it was a safehouse set up by the Miyanos several months ago in the event that that Vermouth or one of the Miyanos' other moles operating inside the Organization had been uncovered. Once inside she lied down, unable to take another step. She leaned her head against the wall.

Not knowing what else to do she gave Atsushi a call. However, Line Zero was closed.

So you've abandoned me in my final hour, she thought bitterly. She then decided to write Hiroshi a final message. However, he was not on her phone's contacts list. Then she remembered that she was using her Chris Vineyard phone.

What the heck, she thought. Why does that matter? I'm dying anyway; might as well say my last goodbyes.

She inserted Hiroshi Agasa's number and clicked "Call".

After one minute Dr. Agasa answered. "Is this a message for Shinichi?" he asked sharply.

"No," Vermouth said. "This is a message for you, Hiroshi."

"F-f-Fusae?!" he exclaimed. "What kind of joke is this? This is Chris Vineyard's number!"

"I'm afraid this is no joke, _anata_ ," she said, panting hard. "That monster who you call Vermouth is…who I've become over the course of many years. I have a lot of blood on my hands. As such it is…fitting that I'm bleeding out right now. I'll probably be dead within an hour."

Dr. Agasa was stunned. The love of his life was…Vermouth? And now she was dying?

"I'd understand if you hung up on…me now," Vermouth continued. "I am a murderer and…your innocence must never be tainted. Your love was…the last sweet thing in this very bitter life. I am miserable, Hiroshi. I have…been for decades. A murderer cannot…know peace; a murder cannot know...happiness, no matter how nice her mansion is, no matter what her…net worth is and no matter how many magazines she…gets to pose for the cover of. If I die then at least let me die…knowing that you still love me despite knowing what I am."

"…I can't do that," Dr. Agasa said. "I don't know if you're even the same person as that girl who I knew long ago; you could've been just masquerading as her the whole time. But even if you are her, it's easier for me to believe that she is dead than for me to know that she is Vermouth, that woman who killed both of Jodie-san's parents with a smile on her face and tried to kill Ai-kun. Your heart is as black as tar, Vermouth, and among the ranks of the Black Organization is truly where a monster like you belongs. Fusae Campbell is dead to me…and you can rot in hell."

He hung up abruptly. So that's how it is, Hiroshi, she thought. Even you, after knowing who I truly am, have abandoned me. The one person who I believed wouldn't…

He is right, she thought. After all that I've done, surely Hell will be my only portion in the life to come. I have hated God for all these years because He caused me to be born into this life, one where I never had any choice but to kill. I was condemned to hell from the moment of my birth; how is that fair?! It has always been easier for me to believe that God does not exist rather than to believe that a God who would condemn me to such a cruel fate from the onset of my life created me.

But...is that true? she thought. Did I really never have a choice? I have a choice now, don't I? Minutes ago I chose to sever myself from my father's control entirely, even though I die now as a result. Could I not have chose such a thing at the age of 16? Is my own life so precious that I would kill others to preserve it? What if I had chosen to die then rather than kill innocent people? Better yet, could I not have just fled from the ranks of the Organization? I had the skills, I had the survival instinct...for all these years I have been lying to myself, haven't I? I've always had a choice. I may consider myself more innocent than others who have killed, but even if so all that I have done is indeed my own fault. I...I...what have I done? God...if there is any forgiveness for even the worst of us, then please...let this serial killer know the meaning of happiness, or at least peace. No angel has ever smiled upon me...let one smile upon me now, at long last.

 **Scene Transition**

Bourbon's sickness had reduced his appetite significant; his only incentive to eat supper was that he had ordered takeout from his favorite restaurant. He sat by the window, waiting for it to come.

Suddenly the virtual reality device on his kitchen table started vibrating. Sighing, he got up and walked over to the kitchen table, humming Ode to Joy. He put the device on. He was receiving a call; he answered.

Immediately the background on his device became a lake. He was standing on a tiny island in the middle of the lake. Several small floating black monoliths surrounded him, revolving in a perfect circle. Each monolith had the same words written in red Latin script letters that read _SOUND ONLY_. It was a group call from the Council, each Council member being represented by a monolith.

"What situation has arisen for you gentlemen to have graced me with your presence?" Bourbon asked.

"Tooru Amuro," Monolith no. 1 said. "As you know your discovery of Pinot Noir's identity caused us to appoint you the Council's special agent, one who would handle internal threats to the Organization quietly."

"Yes, I remember you having said that," Bourbon said. "Please get to the point."

"3 minutes ago the Council received confirmation that Pinot Noir is dead," Monolith no. 6 said.

"His killer was Vermouth," Monolith no. 3 said.

Vermouth? Bourbon thought. Why would she take such a reckless course of action? That was a surefire way to draw attention to the other moles within the Organization.

"His death at her hands is just like the prophecy stated!" Monolith no. 4 exclaimed. "We didn't prevent it after all!"

"Hold your tongue, fool," Monolith no. 2 said. "That tragic accident which killed the Miyanos all those years ago made the second half of the prophecy null and void. All of our searching for that alleged Silver Bullet has been little more than a wild goose chase; the wording of the prophecy has made it clear that without the Miyanos there can be no Silver Bullet."

"I concur," Monolith no. 6 said. "The first half of the prophecy has proceeded as planned whereas the second half logically cannot; our final rise will surely go unchallenged."

Bourbon grinned. Every one of these old men communicating from their hideouts was still clueless that Atsushi and Elena Miyano were still alive and well. "So what is my mission?"

"Kill Vermouth," Monolith no. 1 said.

"All traitors must be punished swiftly," Monolith no. 5 declared.

"You, Bourbon, have spent a good deal of time with Vermouth," Monolith no. 3 said. "Do you know where she may be hiding?"

"I have an idea, yeah," Bourbon answered. "If my hunch is right then I should be able to kill her shortly."

"Very well," Monolith no. 1 said. "One of the compound's guards reported having injured Vermouth with a gunshot. She is critically injured and thus she should be easy to kill."

"We entrust this important task to you," Monolith no. 6 said.

Then the Council ended its call; Bourbon took his VR device off.

This is a truly regretful turn of events, Fusae, Bourbon thought. But I can't afford to blow my cover. Besides, it looks like you're going to die either way. At least this way you'll be put out of your misery…

 **Scene Transition**

She slowly opened her eyes; she was lying on a wooden floor. Why did all this seem familiar...?

Pisco?!

She got up and looked around. She then realized that this room was inside the Kudo residence and that this was the work of Shinichi Kudo, not a member of the Black Organization. There was a clock on the wall; she could see that the present time was 7:51 PM.

She tried the door; it was locked. There was a mirror on the door; using it she could see that the Conan Edogawa disguise had been removed from her head. She now looked like Ai Haibara wearing Conan's clothes.

So he made his choice, she thought. Conan has chosen Ran's life over mine. He plans on sacrificing me to the Organization in order to appease their wrath and allow Ran to live.

What am I to him then…? Haibara wondered. Am I really so little to him that he would just hand me over to save her? Is my life just a commodity to him which he may simply trade away in an emergency?

"10 more minutes. Then That Person will call me back, wanting to know my decision."

Shinichi was sitting down, leaning his head and back against the other side of the door. "Believe me, Haibara. If there was any other way I would've taken it."

"…So that's it?" Haibara asked. "Just like that?"

"Yeah," Shinichi said, his head facing downward as he spoke. "This is…the hardest thing that I've ever had to do. I have to send my friend to her death to save the love of my life. You must understand, Haibara. My options are incredibly limited. I've thought about it...I've thought about it very hard. There simply is no way to capture the boss. He most certainly will not show up in person to see you handed over to them. If I capture whatever agent he sends to make the trade and demand Ran's life in exchange for the agent's release, then he'll either respond by immediately having Ran killed or waiting until after the exchange was made. He probably won't send a particularly high value agent to oversee the trade anyway, and even if I were to go through with that idea capturing this agent could prove quite difficult. If that agent escaped then Ran would be as good as dead. If I demand that The Boss show up in person for the trade, then he'll know what I'm planning. At this point he'd either refuse my demand or downright assume that I was rejecting his offer, in which case he'd have Ran killed. I even considered disguising myself as you and handing myself in, but the ruse would probably be discovered eventually, and then Ran would die. Even if I were to decide to go through with disguising myself, my parents have already boarded their flight back to America and there's no time to apply a disguise now. If I had more time, then maybe I could think of some miraculous way out of this, but I've only got 10 minutes...so I'm handing you over to them. The boss apparently is aware that APTX-4869 can shrink people, so he probably won't doubt that you are Shiho Miyano. Even if he is, a simple DNA test will confirm this. I am so, so sorry; no apology will ever be enough for the gravity of what I'm about to do. If you hate me now, then I fully understand."

"That's the utilitarian thing to do, right?" Haibara said. "When forced to make a choice, you sacrifice the less valuable of the two options. The logical thing to do, right?"

"Haibara…"

Haibara held back tears as she spoke. "You want to know something funny? For the longest time I've had feelings for you."

"…I already knew that."

Haibara was stunned. "Y-you knew? Liar, you couldn't have…"

"My mother raised the possibility to me several months prior," Shinichi said. "I then began observing your behavior more closely and I quickly realized that you are in fact attracted to me. You displayed all the classic textbook signs despite your attempts to hide it. I am a 'deduction maniac' and you are a bad actor, after all. Well, other than your fake crying, that is."

Haibara was silent.

"You do understand why it has to be this way, right?" Shinichi asked. "I can't let her die. And I can't cause her to live her life in hiding. I just want her to be happy; that is, after all, the only way that I am happy. I guess that makes me a horrible person..."

Mary suddenly arrived at the scene. "She" was panting. "I've…finally found you! Shinichi Kudo, why are you holding Haibara in that room?"

Shinichi looked at Mary, surprised. But then he smiled sadly. "I knew that there was something different about you, Mary-kun. Please, tell me who you are."

"I cannot tell you that," Mary said. "All I can say is that I'm an ally to Shiho Miyano. I'll ask you again: why are you holding her in that room?"

"…It's fine, Mary," Haibara said from the other side. "He is just about to hand me over to the Organization to save Ran."

"What?!" Mary exclaimed. She looked fiercely at Shinichi. "Is that true?!"

"Yeah," Shinichi said, his head down in shame.

"Shiho, how can you be okay with this?!" Mary demanded.

"If Kudo-kun would send me to my death for Ran's sake then…I don't see why my life is worth trying to escape for," Haibara said sadly, sniffling. "Why shouldn't I just…disappear? All of my family is dead and the one person I have left has betrayed me. I have nothing, no reason to continue existing."

"T-that's not true!" Mary pleaded. Screw this, he thought. I'm just going to have to tell her now. "Shiho…your mother and father are alive! So is that younger brother of yours who you probably don't remember, the one named Satoshi! I talked with Elena Miyano earlier today!"

W-what?! Haibara thought. She took a step backwards, taken about by this shocking revelation. "Y-you can't be telling the truth!"

Huuh? Shinichi thought. Haibara's parents are…alive?

"I am!" Mary pleaded. "Shiho, I am Satoshi! I am your younger brother! I disguised myself as a girl so that nobody would recognize me!"

"Wait: you're her brother?!" Shinichi exclaimed. "But wait a second, why did Masumi called you 'mama' that time?"

"That?" Satoshi/Mary said. "Ah, well, it's just an nickname she has for me. A play off the first two letters in Mary, and Masumi has told me that when disguised as a girl I bear a resemblance to her mother."

Shinichi stood up and unlocked the door. Haibara immediately opened the door and rushed towards Satoshi/Mary.

"Y-y-you are my…brother?" Shiho/Haibara asked, struggling to contain the impulse to burst out into tears.

"Yes," Satoshi/Mary said. "Your last surviving sibling. My actual age is 15; yours by this point should be 19."

"I turned 19 earlier this year," Shiho/Haibara said. "Can you take me to mom and dad?"

"Not yet," Satoshi/Mary said. "But I can let you talk to them."

"Hold on," Shinichi said. "Haibara, I still have no choice but to…"

He was interrupted by the vibration of his phone. Without looking at the number he answered it.

"My answer is yes!" Shinichi said automatically. "I agree to your offer!"

There was a weak chuckle from the other side. "Kudo-kun, you don't have to hand Sherry over."

"V-Vermouth?" Shinichi asked.

Haibara looked at Shinichi intently upon hearing him mention Vermouth's name.

"Yes," Vermouth confirmed. "I…I am dying. Listen to my last words, Shinichi. The injuries that I'm dying from were sustained when I killed the Boss of the Black Organization."

"The Boss is dead?!" Shinichi repeated.

What? Haibara thought. Does that mean that…Shinichi won't have to hand me over to them?

"Yeah," Vermouth said. "He didn't tell anyone else before he died so yours and Sherry's secret is secret. You can go back to your normal life as Conan and she can go back to being Haibara; the two of you have survived this threat."

"But…why would you do this for me?" Shinichi asked.

"You fool…I didn't do it for you," Vermouth said. "I did it for Sherry. She must keep on living at least until the...time comes for her to fulfill her role."

"Role?" Shinichi repeated.

"It is a role that Haibara won't be able to play," Vermouth continued. "Only Shiho can play that certain role. Or so it is written."

"Role? It is written?" Shinichi repeated. "You're talking as if there's some kind of prophecy!"

"There is a prophecy," Vermouth insisted. "And you are at the center of it. All this time…I have tried to protect you because I realized that you are vital to its fulfilment. If you don't play your role then the Black Organization will...destroy the world."

"Hey, destroy the world?" Shinichi repeated. "What nonsense is this?"

"You will discover the meaning behind these last…words of mine with time," Vermouth continued. "I am not allowed to tell you the prophecy…because neither you nor Sherry are ready to know it yet. When the time is right you will be told…everything."

Vermouth said that she's dying, Shinichi thought. Perhaps she has become delirious in her final moments? This stuff about a prophecy and the end of the world has to be a load of crap.

"Okay, this is it," Vermouth said. "There is a red laser light pointed at my head right now. I'm too weak to try to run; this is the end for me. I've carried out my role; now I'm leaving the rest in your hands. Don't my sacrifice be in vain, Silver Bul…"

Her last words were cut short by the sound of breaking glass and a bullet impacting flesh; Fusae Campbell, better known by the names Sharon Vineyard, Chris Vineyard and Vermouth, died instantly. 400 yards away Bourbon began to walk away, a sniper rifle in hand.

 **Scene Transition**

 **THE TENTH**

"Conan-kun, do you want a quarter so that you can go play a game?"

"Uh, no thanks, I'm good just watching you and Sonoko-neechan," Conan said.

Ran shrugged and she and Sonoko stepped onto the dance pads to begin the game.

Two nights ago at 9:28 PM the transformation back to Conan began; at 9:39 PM that transformation had completed and he headed back to Ran's house after changing clothes and reapplying his cast and crutches (Dr. Agasa didn't have a Power Brace which fit Conan's size, unfortunately). He had told Ran that Shinichi left to continue working on his "international case" and that Shinichi had said he'd be reunited with Ran again one day, that time for good.

Ever since what happened Haibara had been avoiding Conan. Yesterday he had received word from the professor that Satoshi was helping Haibara contact her parents for the first time in many years. Likewise, Dr. Agasa was coming to grips with what he had told Vermouth when she was on the verge of death, especially whenever he realized that she had died protecting Shinichi and Shiho.

Conan had also received a call from Shuichi Akai, who informed him that Gin had committed suicide in the interrogation room; they weren't sure how he managed to hide the gun on his person while being searched by the police.

Satoshi planned on staying where he was under the guise of Mary for the time being because "My mission isn't finished just yet." Also, he obviously wanted to spend time with the sister who he never got to know. Masumi Sera had agreed 5 months ago to take in Satoshi, him having told her who he was. Satoshi was reluctant to reveal any more details; unless he was willing to reveal anything else, which Conan doubted, the trail that led to the Black Organization had gone cold once again. Now all that Conan could do was wait for another lead to appear.

The game started. Ran and Sonoko started pressing their feet against the dance pad in sync with the falling icons displayed on the screen.

I'll just have to accept that I'm going to be in this body for a while longer, Conan thought. How long that'll be I have absolutely no way of knowing.

I can't imagine how Haibara's feeling right now, he thought. If I did turn her in to the Organization, would that have been the right thing to do? Did I ever have a right to play God, to decide who lives and who dies? Could Ran have lived with herself if she knew that the price for her life and her reunification with Shinichi was Haibara's life? Could Shinichi?

Conan looked around; the arcade was quite loud and to the perspective of somebody in an 8 year old body it was quite large. Ran and Sonoko were giggling excitedly as they tried to clear the song and beat their previous high score.

Conan still couldn't wrap his mind around what Vermouth had said; if she had died to protect Haibara because she was an important part of some prophecy then it was clear Vermouth believed in it. After all, she couldn't have become delirious before her fatal injury and she must've tried to kill the Boss for some reason. So Conan felt that he should probably take Vermouth's last words at face value.

If this is the case then I must keep a look out for this prophecy, Conan thought. If this prophecy is true then the fate of the world is at stake, however this may be.

Conan had no way of knowing how this prophecy ended, provided that it was even true. However, he knew in his heart that after he fulfilled his unknown prophesied role then the long road which he had traveled as Conan would finally reach the journey's end and he would be able to become Shinichi Kudo again, casting aside the persona of this child with glasses forever. The prophecy was his greatest challenge but it was also his greatest hope.

"High score!" Ran and Sonoko shouted in unison, having finished the song.

Conan laughed stupidly and clapped in fake childlike wonder. "Good job Ran-neechan and Sonoko-neechan!"

Until then, he thought, I will be at your side. It is the only place where I can be with you right now, even if you don't know who I truly am.

Until I defeat the Black Organization my name is and shall be Conan Edogawa, a detective. Detective Conan.

 **The End**

( _Overfly_ by Luna Haruna; originally the second ending of Sword Art Online)

 _Takaku takaku kono te wo nobashite_

 _Kitto kitto tte mou ichido negau kara_

 _Tomodonai omoi wa nichijou ni nomare te_

 _Yurameki nagara mata katachi wo kaeta itta_

 _Sore demo kono sekai de ikiru imi sagashite_

 _Mayoi tachidomari kizutsuite wa namida suru_

 _Ima sara mou osoi kana henji no nai jimonjitou_

 _Subete wa sou jibun shidai owari mo najimari mo_

 _Takaku takaku kono te wo nobashite_

 _Yasashii hikan wo mezashite habataku yo_

 _Kokoro ni tomoshita jounetsu wo daite_

 _Kitto kitto tte mou ichido negau kara_

If you enjoyed reading this story then please post a review of it and tell me what you think. Thank you!


	5. Bonus Chapter

(I thank each and every one of those few people who took the time to read this 40,000+ word fanfic; I apologize for the very large number of edits that I had to make afterwards upon discovering errors and plot holes that simply needed to be fixed; I'm sure that there are still some which I've missed. This is a bonus chapter, posted mainly for the purpose of legally bumping this fanfic and for the purpose of apologizing for any confusion that the many edits may have caused. So enjoy this short bonus chapter and please don't forget to comment on my story!)

Bourbon stepped back inside his home, taking the half-cold meal which the deliveryperson had left at his doorstep in with him.

Why did you do it, Vermouth? He wondered. You were a fun person to interact with and it was truly a shame that I had to kill you.

He put the meal on the table, knowing that he couldn't eat until he reported to the Council.

He turned his VR device back on and called the council; once again the background turned into a lake. The floating black monoliths appeared once again.

"It's done," Bourbon said. "Vermouth is dead. It was a headshot."

"Well done then, Amuro-san," Monolith no. 1 said. "I am happy to report that the Council has selected a new leader for our Organization. Cabernet Sauvignon is the new Boss as of right now. We are optimistic that the appointment of this person as Pinot Noir's successor will bring the Organization back to the days of cooperation between the Boss and the Council that was terribly lacking during Pinot Noir's leadership."

"That person, huh?" Bourbon said. "Isn't she a little young to be leading us?"

"She has proved her leadership abilities on numerous occasions," Monolith no. 3 said. "In any case it is not your place to question the Boss."

"Or perhaps you're defending her because you've got a crush on her," Bourbon teased. "It's okay to admit it; millions of Japanese men do."

"Silence!" Monolith no. 6 said. "You will not address the Council in that way! Be mindful to never be so impudent towards us again!"

"Anyway, her relative youth is an asset in this case," Monolith no. 8 said. "We won't have to worry about another power transition for a long time and her youth brings a fresh perspective and new ideas. Ever since her mother's untimely death she has had a seat at the Council where she has demonstrated many times over her resourcefulness."

"You're all too kind," Monolith no. 10 said. "Anyway, what do you think, Tooru-chan? Do you really think I'm too young?"

"No, no," Bourbon said with a nervous chuckle, distancing himself from his earlier comment. "I guess not. Congratulations and I hope that you can lead us through the foretold events safely and to our final victory."

Bourbon ended the call and took the VR device off. He began to eat.

So she's the Boss now, he thought. That certainly makes this game more interesting. Until we meet again on that final battlefield…Yoko Okino.


End file.
